US stocks boosted by latest AI reveals
Artificial intelligence players Google and AMD were among the winners on Thursday as US stocks bounced in a move attributed to bargain hunting after losses earlier in the week. The big gains for both companies came one day after they unveiled new AI offerings, adding positive momentum to chip companies and other tech stocks. The Nasdaq led the major indices, gaining 1.4 percent to finish at 14,339. The Dow Jones added 0.2 percent at 36,117, while the S&P 500 gained 0.8 percent to 4,585. After a strong November, US stocks have been on the defensive most of the week in what analysts regard as a "consolidation" trade to absorb earlier gains. However, analysts pointed to Thursday's gains as a sign investors were capitalising on the pullback. Markets will receive a key input on the labour market on Friday with the release of the November jobs report. Among individual companies, AMD surged nearly 10 percent after presenting its newest chip, the MI300, which is being positioned as a rival to a much-praised Nvidia product. Google parent Alphabet won 5.3 percent as it demonstrated its new Gemini artificial intelligence model that the company said could outperform human experts in several areas of problem-solving, math, physics, history, law, medicine and ethics. JetBlue soared more than 15 percent as it lifted some of its fourth quarter projections, pointing to a "strong" operational performance in November and describing travel demand as "healthy." (AFP)