Article Content
MarketFlick Insights
At a glance
- •Dow Jones Industrial Average set a new record, jumping 874.86 points to 51,561.93.
- •S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 7,584.31; Nasdaq slipped 0.1% to 26,830.96.
- •Brent crude fell 2.8% to $95.03 per barrel, easing inflation and supply concerns.
- •10-year Treasury yield eased to about 4.47%, supporting small caps (Russell 2000 +1.4%).
- •Banks led gains: Goldman Sachs, Fifth Third Bancorp and U.S. Bancorp posted strong rises.
- •Broadcom sank 12.6% despite strong AI chip revenue growth; investors may have expected more.
- •Micron and CrowdStrike pulled back after big YTD gains; PVH dropped sharply despite beating estimates.
- •Economic signals mixed: a modest rise in unemployment claims suggests possible labor-market softening.
Market Snapshot
Wall Street rose Thursday as falling oil prices and softer bond yields relieved pressure on equities, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a fresh record. The Dow jumped 874.86 points, or 1.7%, to 51,561.93, while the S&P 500 climbed 30.63 points, or 0.4%, to 7,584.31 marking the index's 10th gain in 11 trading days. The Nasdaq composite slipped 23.02 points, or 0.1%, to 26,830.96 as some technology and AI-focused names cooled after recent rallies.
Stocks benefited from a 2.8% drop in the price of Brent crude to $95.03 per barrel, which reversed part of the spike earlier in the week tied to flare-ups of fighting involving Iran and its adversaries. Investors are increasingly betting that shipping through the Strait of Hormuz will be restored, easing supply concerns and reducing a key source of upward pressure on global inflation.
At the same time, yields in the U.S. Treasury market eased slightly: the 10-year Treasury yield fell to about 4.47% from 4.49% late Wednesday. Lower yields tend to reduce borrowing costs and can be particularly supportive for smaller companies; the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks rose 1.4% on the day.
Leadership Beyond AI
Banks and smaller-cap names led the advance. Goldman Sachs climbed about 5%, Fifth Third Bancorp rose 4.7% and U.S. Bancorp gained 4.4% as financials benefited from the drop in yields and renewed buying interest outside the high-flying AI cohort.
Not all of the markets biggest winners held their ground. Broadcom plunged 12.6% despite beating profit and revenue expectations; CEO Hock Tan said AI semiconductor revenue more than doubled to $10.8 billion in the quarter and forecast AI chip growth above 200% this quarter. Investors, however, appeared to have anticipated even more after Broadcom had surged 38.5% year-to-date entering the session.
Other AI-related stocks also gave up gains. Micron Technology fell 7.7% after its market value had recently topped $1 trillion amid AI optimism. CrowdStrike Holdings dropped 3.8% despite quarterly results that beat estimates; the cybersecurity firm said the quarter represented a collision between cybersecurity and frontier AI and announced a stock split to make shares more affordable. CrowdStrike has surged roughly 59.5% so far this year.
Outside tech, PVH Corp., the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, tumbled 20.2% even though it beat first-quarter sales and profit targets. CEO Stefan Larsson cited the prolonged effects of the Middle East conflict on customers in the region as a factor pressuring performance.
Economic data were mixed: initial claims for unemployment benefits ticked up modestly last week, a possible early sign of softening in an otherwise solid labor market. International markets were uneven; European indexes rose while major Asian bourses finished weaker, with South Koreas Kospi down 1.8%, Hong Kongs Hang Seng off 1.5% and Japans Nikkei 225 slipping 1.4%.
Overall, the markets rotation away from some of the largest AI winners into financials, small caps and beaten-down sectors helped drive a broad-based advance that pushed the Dow to a record and kept investors focused on the interplay between oil, yields and corporate earnings.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
