S&P 500 Jumps 1.29% as Chip Stocks Rally; Nasdaq Leads Gains

The S&P 500 closed up 1.29% at 7,617.84, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.60% to 25,466.19, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added a more modest 0.49% to finish at 52,486.49. The Russell 2000, which tracks smaller companies, rose 0.88% to 2,846.26. The 10-year Treasury yield, which moves opposite to bond prices, edged up 0.28% to 4.998%, while the VIX, a gauge of expected market volatility often called the fear index, fell sharply, down 10.17% to 17.48.

The biggest S&P 500 moves

Sandisk led gainers, up 13.69%, with Benzinga pointing to a rebound after a steep prior selloff left the stock oversold and prone to bargain hunting and short covering. Bloom Energy rose 12.97%, and Micron Technology jumped 11.89%, which Benzinga tied to an improved outlook from CoreWeave that eased concerns about a slowdown in artificial intelligence infrastructure spending; Micron also added about $98.60 billion in market value. Dell Technologies gained 11.77%, a reversal from a decline the prior day that MarketWatch had described as an underperformance versus the broader market. Lumentum Holdings climbed 10.67%, even as Benzinga noted a split among analysts, with UBS holding a neutral stance while cutting its price forecast and Bernstein raising its own target.

On the downside, Airbnb fell 3.09% after TheStreet reported that OpenAI had bought a travel-planning platform, a deal renewing worries that artificial intelligence could challenge established online travel businesses. Lululemon Athletica slipped 2.65% and McDonald's declined 2.61%, both moving without an explanation in the available sources. Leidos and Brown-Forman also ranked among the day's steepest decliners.

Among the largest companies by market value, Nvidia rose 2.87%, adding about $123.40 billion, and Apple gained 2.04%, adding roughly $103.47 billion. Alphabet's Class A shares climbed 2.11%, adding about $74.00 billion, while Microsoft bucked the trend, falling 2.26% and shedding close to $91.39 billion in value.

Sectors

Ten of the eleven sectors finished higher. Technology led by a wide margin, up 3.23%, followed by energy, up 1.85%, and industrials, up 1.33%. Consumer discretionary was the only sector to close lower, slipping 0.05%, while health care and real estate posted only marginal gains.

New highs and lows

Fourteen S&P 500 stocks touched a 52-week high on Wednesday, including CDW, Hasbro and Keurig Dr Pepper. Just one stock, Fidelity National Information Services, touched a 52-week low, even though its shares rose 6.71% on the day.

On the calendar

Two US data points were released Wednesday. The OPEC Monthly Report came out at 5:00 AM ET with no comparable actual, consensus or prior figures given. The MBA 30-Year Mortgage Rate for the week of November 6 came in at 7.21%, down from a prior reading of 7.3%, with no consensus estimate provided.

Thursday brings several releases. Initial jobless claims for the week of November 7 are expected to come in around 195,000, continuing claims for the week of October 31 are expected near 1,710,000, and the four-week average of initial claims is expected around 192,500. Existing home sales for October are expected to show a 0.3% monthly increase, reaching an annualized pace near 3.85 million. Before Thursday's opening bell, Applied Materials and Cisco Systems are not among the companies reporting; both are scheduled to report after the market closes, with analysts expecting earnings per share, a company's profit divided by its outstanding shares, of $4.06 for Applied Materials and $1.33 for Cisco.