The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that North American stock indexes closed higher on Monday, with Nasdaq's 1-per-cent rally leading the charge as Microsoft hit a record high after it hired prominent artificial intelligence executives. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that Nasdaq boasted its highest closing since July 31 while the S&P 500 registered its highest close since Aug. 1. The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed at its highest level since Sept. 18 -- up 70.70 points at 20,246.47. Microsoft shares which touched a record high and ended up 2 per cent. Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella said Sam Altman, who headed OpenAI until he was ousted late last week, was set to join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. Microsoft will also take on Greg Brockman, another OpenAI co-founder, as well as other researchers. The news set a positive tone for the market with other heavyweight technology stocks including Nvidia and Apple also gaining ground. Wall Street's main indexes have staged a rebound so far in November, after three months of weakness, as evidence of easing U.S. inflation has supported bets that the Federal Reserve was done raising interest rates.