Markets Notch All-Time Highs as AI Frenzy and Oil Hopes Fuel Rally
Analysts have been saying the broad U.S. stock market may be set for a slowdown following an unrelenting streak of nine straight winning weeks for the S&P 500, its longest since 2023. The rally has been largely due to strong profit reports from U.S. companies, as well as hopes that the United States and Iran will reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. That would allow oil to flow freely again from the Persian Gulf and hopefully lower its price.
In the oil market, prices rose again to claw back more of last week?s slump. Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed 1.1% to settle at $96.00 per barrel, and it?s still well above its roughly $70 level from before the war.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise helped lead the market soaring 19.5% after it reported a profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts? expectations. Marvell Technology leaped 32.5% for its best day since its stock began trading in 2000 after Nvidia?s CEO, Jensen Huang, suggested at a conference in Taiwan that Marvell could be ?the next trillion-dollar company.? Micron Technology rides the AI wave. Nvidia slipped 0.7%, has seen its total value top $5 trillion.
Generac climbed 5.7% after saying it signed a deal to provide backup power generators to an unnamed ?leading hyperscale data center operator.? Such ?hyperscalers? are spending tremendous amounts of money to build huge AI data centers, which are powering what proponents believe is the next great revolution for the global economy. Alphabet is one among them, the parent company of Google said it?s raising $80 billion in cash to help pay for its investments by selling shares of its stock. It?s planning to spend as much as $190 billion on equipment and other investments this year. Critics have already been talking about the possibility of a bubble in AI investment, and Alphabet?s stock fell 3.9%. It was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500.
In stock markets abroad indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong?s Hang Seng jumped 2.5% for one of the world?s biggest moves.
In the bond market, Treasury yields were relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.45% from 4.47% late Monday. It briefly jumped after a report said that U.S. employers were advertising many more jobs at the end of April than economists expected, a potential signal of continued health for the U.S. labor market. But it quickly pulled back to where it was just before the report?s release.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News