The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 544 points (1.25%) on Thursday, while the S&P 500 gained 0.5%, buoyed by investor interest in cyclical stocks expected to thrive in a growing economy.
In contrast, the Nasdaq Composite dipped slightly as technology shares like Nvidia, which recently reported earnings, faced declines.
Banking giant Goldman Sachs, industrial leader Caterpillar, and retailer Home Depot emerged as key winners of the day.
The Russell 2000 Index, often seen as a gauge for small-cap companies and a potential beneficiary of economic growth, rose more than 1.8%.
Other technology, including Meta Platforms, Amazon, and Apple also dropped, further weighing on Nasdaq.
Meanwhile, NVIDIA Corporation also fell on Thursday as investors were unimpressed that the company’s forecast was its slowest in seven quarters.
The stock fell despite posting positive earnings figures. Shares were down 1.4% from the previous close.
“Nvidia had a spectacular quarter … but it is overshadowed by expectations. Great expectations are built in the stock and have been running at the rate at which Nvidia has been running,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth told Reuters.
Some traders attributed the losses to slowing revenue growth from previous quarters or concerns that the chipmaker didn’t exceed the most optimistic guidance estimate, according to a CNBC report.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin hit a new record high of $98,000 on Thursday as investors remained optimistic that President-elect Donald Trump’s administration would be beneficial for the crypto industry.
Alphabet stock falls
Shares of Alphabet fell as much as 6% on Thursday as antitrust concerns weighed on sentiments.
Earlier this week, the US Justice Department had called for Google to divest its Chrome browser business.
This comes after a court in August ruled that Google has monopolized the search market with its Chrome browser.
“To remedy these harms, the [Initial Proposed Final Judgment] requires Google to divest Chrome, which will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet,” the Justice Department said in its filing.
At the time of writing, shares of Alphabet were down more than 6%.
Snowflake share surges
Share of Snowflake popped 31% on Thursday and was on course for its best day ever.
The optimism in the market was due to positive earnings results.
The data analytics software company beat Wall Street projections by posting 20 cents per share adjusted earnings on $942 million in revenue.
LSEG had anticipated the company to post an adjusted earnings of 15 cents per share and $897 million in revenue.
Snowflake said it expects product revenue for the 2025 fiscal year to reach $3.43 billion, up from a previous forecast calling for $3.36 billion.
Weekly initial jobless claims fall below forecast
People filing for unemployment claims for the first time in the US came in at 213,000 for the week ended November 16.
Claims had fallen from the preceding week’s figure of 219,000. The figure for the week ended November 16 also beat the expectations of Wall Street economists, who expected 220,000 new claims.
The robust economic data showed that the labor market in the US remained resilient.
Continuing claims for jobless insurance climbed to 1.908 million from 1.872 million last week and 25,000 more than the Street’s estimate of 1.883 million, according to a CNBC report.
The resilient labor market in the US might make it more difficult for the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its December policy meeting.
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