United States equities advanced on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), extending a technology-led rally as concerns over artificial intelligence disruption eased and investors positioned for a key earnings report from chipmaker Nvidia.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 307.7 points or 0.6% to close at 49,482.2, the broad-based S&P 500 rose 56.1 points or 0.8% to 6,946.1, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 288.4 points or 1.3% to 23,152.1.
The advance built on gains from the previous session, with investors reassessing earlier concerns about the scale of capital expenditure on AI infrastructure and the potential for widespread industry disruption.
Nvidia shares climbed 1.4% ahead of its quarterly earnings release, scheduled after the closing bell.
The results, which will be accompanied by reports from software groups Salesforce and Snowflake, come at a time when markets are recalibrating valuations across the technology sector.
Elsewhere in the AI space, Oracle jumped 1.2% after receiving an upgrade from Oppenheimer. Palantir Technologies added 4.2%, and Microsoft advanced 3%.
Tuesday’s rally had been driven in part by easing fears over AI-related disruption. Sentiment was supported after AI firm Anthropic launched new connectors and plug-ins for its knowledge worker tool, Claude Cowork.
Comments from Tom Barkin, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, also helped steady nerves. Barkin said it was not clear that AI deployment would displace workers, suggesting instead that the technology could enhance productivity and improve labour market efficiency.
Beyond technology, several corporate updates drove stock-specific moves. Axon Enterprise surged 17.6% after the Taser-maker reported fourth-quarter profit above expectations.
In contrast, First Solar and Lowe's Companies both fell sharply, down 13.6% and 5.6%, respectively, after issuing weaker-than-expected quarterly results.
Following Lowe’s results, housing-related stocks underperformed despite a drop in borrowing costs. Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to a three-and-a-half-year low last week, yet homebuilders failed to benefit.
Meanwhile, GoDaddy tumbled 14.3% after forecasting annual revenue below Wall Street expectations.
Geopolitical developments also remained in focus. Over the weekend, Donald Trump threatened to raise global tariffs to 15%, although a 10% duty on global imports was implemented on Tuesday.
In his State of the Union address, the president highlighted economic resilience, proposed access to government-backed retirement accounts for workers and reiterated calls to restrict large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes.
In fixed income markets, U.S. Treasury yields edged higher. The benchmark 10-year yield rose 0.4% to 4.054%, while the 2-year yield gained 0.2% to 3.473%.
