Tech Stocks Lead Rally as Bond Yields Ease, Nvidia Deal Announced
Stocks on Wall Street closed higher Thursday as bond yields eased further and big technology companies rallied, helping the market recoup its losses from earlier in the week.
The S&P 500 rose 1.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.2% and the Nasdaq composite closed 1.4% higher. Microsoft rose 2.7%, Apple gained 1%, and Meta climbed 3%.
Nvidia, a giant chip maker whose high-end chips have emerged as AI's best building blocks, rose 1.8% after saying it would buy the artificial intelligence platform Hugging Face for $13 billion.
The renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran has sent U.S. crude prices sharply higher this week, but the momentum cooled Thursday. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.1% to settle at $95.52 per barrel, while benchmark U.S. crude edged up 0.3% to settle at $91.30 a barrel.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.77% from 4.79% late Wednesday, while the yield on the 2-year Treasury slid to 4.34% from 4.39%. Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller said that if new data next week shows inflation is cooling, he 'would be inclined' to keep the Fed's benchmark interest rate unchanged.