Tech Stocks Lead Wall Street Rally Amid Easing Bond Yields
The US stock market rallied on Thursday as technology stocks led the way, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 624 points and the Nasdaq composite higher by 366 points. The S&P 500 also rose by 81 points, its gains marking a recovery from earlier losses in the week.
Microsoft shares surged 2.7% after the tech giant announced plans to buy Hugging Face, an artificial intelligence platform, for $13 billion. Nvidia's stock jumped 1.8% on similar AI-related news, while Apple and Meta gained 1% and 3%, respectively.
The rally was fueled by a decline in bond yields, which had been rising steadily throughout the year. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.77%, down from 4.79% late Wednesday, while the 2-year Treasury yield dropped to 4.34%, its lowest level since early August.
Traders are now betting on a lower chance of interest rate hikes at the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting in two weeks, with investors anticipating that inflation may be cooling down.