AI optimism lifts S&P, Nasdaq to records
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs on Thursday, buoyed by tech stocks linked to AI, while inflation data and comments from Federal Reserve officials helped shape expectations for the timing of the central bank's interest rate cuts. Heavyweight chipmaker Nvidia advanced 2.08 percent as one of the biggest boosts to the benchmark S&P index and Nasdaq while smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices surged 9.06 percent. Those and other technology companies have been the centerpiece of a Wall Street rally in recent months, fueled by optimism over growth prospects related to artificial intelligence. Dell Technologies, which sells AI-optimised servers made with Nvidia's high-end processors, rose 1.51 percent ahead of its report after the bell. Traders added to bets the Fed will cut rates in June, according to CME's FedWatch Tool, after a Commerce Department report showed US prices picked up in January in line with expectations amid strong gains in the costs of services, while annual inflation was the lowest in three years. "Without kind of a hawkish surprise here, which it wasn't, it was soft or at least in line, then there's no real reason for the market to expect the Fed to get more hawkish than they already outlined," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. "It doesn't matter what you think they should do. It's what they say they're going to do and once again, the market has been wrestled back into line to where the Fed said they'd be." The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.12 percent, to 38,996. The S&P 500 gained 0.52 percent, to 5,096 and the Nasdaq advanced 0.90 percent, to 16,092. The Nasdaq closed above its prior record high of 16,057 set on November 21, 2021, while the S&P bested its closing record of 5,089 set just last week. For the month, the S&P 500 gained 5.17 percent, the Nasdaq jumped 6.12 percent, and the Dow climbed 2.22 percent. Each of the three major indexes registered a gain for February, their fourth straight monthly advance. Gains on the Dow were held in check, partly by a 1.59 percent fall in Boeing after a report of a probe by the Department of Justice. (Reuters)