Global stock markets were mixed on Monday with the Nasdaq rising and the Dow retreating as traders digested major AI deals boosting the tech sector.

Trading on the first business day in November began on the front foot after an upbeat end to October that saw an easing in China-US tensions, a cut to US interest rates and healthy earnings from market darlings including technology giant Amazon.

"Tech and AI remain a huge theme for investors as we move into the final months of the year," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.

Data showed economic activity in the US manufacturing sector contracted at a faster rate in October, when analysts had been expecting it to stabilise or even expand.

Nevertheless the tech-heavy Nasdaq still pushed 0.5 percent higher thanks to blockbuster tech deals.

Shares in Amazon jumped 4.0 percent after ChatGPT-maker OpenAI signed a US$38 billion deal with Amazon's AWS cloud computing arm.

The deal will give OpenAI, which is partly owned by AWS's arch-rival Microsoft, access to computing resources including hundreds of thousands of state-of-the-art Nvidia GPU chips, the crucial component of the generative artificial intelligence revolution.

Microsoft announced US$15.2 billion in investments in artificial intelligence and cloud computing in the United Arab Emirates.

The deal sent Nvidia shares up 2.2 percent on hopes it could see access for its most advanced chips expand to more markets as the Trump administration allowed the supply of GPU chips to the UAE.

Shares in Nvidia are up over 50 percent since the start of the year. Shares in Microsoft slipped 0.2 percent.

"A degree of tiredness is creeping into Wall Street's mood despite the strong performance thus far in earnings season," and blockbuster AI deals, said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at investing and trading platform IG.

Kenvue surged 12.3 percent after the Tylenol-maker reached a US$48.7 billion deal to be acquired by US consumer goods giant Kimberly-Clark. Kimberly-Clark fell 14.6 percent.

The S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent, to 6,851, while the Nasdaq put on 0.5 percent, to 23,834. The Dow Jones fell 0.5 percent to 47,336. (AFP)