* Boeing tumbles after MAX 9 groundings

* Oil stocks fall on Saudi price cuts, rise in OPEC output

* Apple climbs as Vision Pro AR headset to go on sale in Feb

* Indexes up: Dow 0.20%, S&P up 0.95%, Nasdaq up 1.78%

NEW YORK, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq gained more than 1% for the first time in 2024 on Monday, as a fall in yields helped lift megacap stocks, while a sharp drop in Boeing shares held the Dow Industrials near the unchanged mark.

Megacaps such as Amazon.com and Alphabet gained about 2% as Treasury yields fell ahead of readings on inflation and a new supply of government debt this week, with the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hitting a low of 3.966% on the session.

In addition, Apple also gained roughly 2% after the iPhone maker said its Vision Pro mixed-reality device will be available for sale from Feb. 2 in the United States.

Chipmakers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices surged more than 5% each. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index was up more than 3% after dropping 5.8% last week, its biggest weekly percentage fall since October 2022.

"This is definitely a yield-driven market for now and investors are trying to discount when and how many rate cuts we will see, the timing and the magnitude of rate cuts," said Bill Merz, head of capital markets research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

"Now we're probably in a more rational place in terms of yields and it's a question of, is the market getting that right and are yields falling for the right reasons or the wrong reasons? And investors have so far taken the view that yields are falling for all the right reasons, that the Fed is navigating what thus far has been a soft landing."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 73.37 points, or 0.20%, to 37,539.48, the S&P 500 gained 44.63 points, or 0.95 %, to 4,741.87, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 258.04 points, or 1.78 %, to 14,782.11.

Meanwhile, Boeing plunged 6.8% after the plane maker and U.S. regulators gave the go-ahead on Monday for airlines to inspect jets that were grounded after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated 737 MAX 9 in mid-flight that forced a dramatic landing of the airliner over the weekend.

The S&P 500 energy index led declines among the 11 S&P 500 sectors, and was last down 1.8% after hitting its lowest level in a month as crude prices sank about 4% after sharp price cuts by top exporter Saudi Arabia and a rise in OPEC output.

On Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 snapped a nine-week streak of gains, as investors dialed back expectations on how aggressive the Federal Reserve would be in cutting interest rates this year following a mixed bag of economic data.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on Monday that the central bank's dual goals of lowering inflation and maintaining low unemployment are not yet in conflict.

Money markets now see a 69.5% chance of at least a 25-basis-point (bps) rate cut as soon as March, according to CME's FedWatch Tool, down from 88.5% a week ago.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.3-to-1 ratio on the NYSE while on the Nasdaq, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 8 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq recorded 85 new highs and 80 new lows. (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak in New York Editing by Matthew Lewis)