The Dow Jones Industrial Average
rallied to a fresh all-time high on Thursday, while the Nasdaq Composite
underperformed as investors appeared to rotate out of chip names in favor of non-tech stocks.
The 30-stock Dow jumped 874.86 points, or 1.73%, for a record close of 51,561.93. The Nasdaq lost 0.09% and ended at 26,830.96, while the S&P 500
rose 0.41% to 7,584.31.
UnitedHealth
led the Dow higher, rising more than 5%. JPMorgan Chase
and Walmart
added to the benchmark’s advance, climbing 3% and nearly 1%, respectively. Non-tech names outside of the Dow such as Costco
and Eli Lilly
gained around 1% and more than 4%, respectively.
The rotation was sparked by a sell-off in Broadcom
that led investors to pare exposure to stocks with ties to artificial intelligence. The chipmaker slid more than 12% after the it reported a fiscal second-quarter revenue miss. Semiconductor names, which led the latest leg higher in the market’s rally to record levels, fell broadly. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH)
lost more than 1%. Arm Holdings
shed more than 4%, while Micron Technology
fell close to 8%.
“After an astonishing earnings season, the AI trade is still alive and well, but this rally is getting tired after an incredible more than two-month surge,” said Dennis Follmer, chief investment officer at Montis Financial. “With no end in sight for the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz, we would not be surprised to see stocks stall for a while as that reality sinks in and it catches its breath from this recent streak.”
Thursday’s moves “suggest the early innings of a rotation and it’s also a reminder that not all AI stocks are the same and there are different expectations built into each stock,” he added.
This comes after a losing day on Wall Street, with stocks pressured by rising tensions in the Middle East. Attacks escalated between the U.S. and Iran. Iran struck Kuwait International Airport early Wednesday, while a day earlier U.S. Central Command said it had defeated multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, and carried out “self-defense strikes” on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf. It said that this was in response to “attempted attacks” by Tehran.
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