Stocks rose on Thursday as equity markets tried to rebound despite renewed U.S.-Iran tensions and a jump in oil prices.
The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up 63 points, or 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2%, with semiconductor stocks outperforming.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbed almost 3%, led by a nearly 7% gain in Micron Technology. Sandisk rose 5%.
Meta Platforms, Inc. fell almost 4% in early trading. Meta plans to start manufacturing an artificial intelligence chip from September as part of its plan to boost overall computing power to 14 gigawatts next year.
The U.S. began launching fresh strikes on Iran in response to Tehran’s attacks on commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said Wednesday afternoon. U.S. Central Command later said that an additional round of strikes had been completed. However, crude futures were flat after President Donald Trump said he called Iran to make a deal.
This comes after Trump said Wednesday he may no longer be interested in negotiating a deal with Iran. Prior to that, he said that the ceasefire between the U.S. and Tehran is “over” after another wave of attacks in the Middle East.
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