U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, boosted by a blowout Micron Technology earnings report, as traders digested the release of a key inflation reading for May.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.8% and 1%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 316 points, or 0.6%.
Micron Technology surged 18% after the chipmaker reported fiscal third-quarter results that topped analysts’ expectations. Fellow semiconductor stock Qualcomm gained 8% after raising guidance for its non-handset revenue in fiscal 2029.
Other chip names, such as Sandisk, Western Digital, Lam Research, KLA and Applied Materials, rose in sympathy. Chip stocks in Europe also posted gains in Thursday’s trading session, with ASMI, Be Semiconductor and Soitec all rising sharply.
Outside of equities, the dollar index — which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies — was last little changed. It rose on Wednesday amid mounting bets Federal Reserve rate hikes.
May’s personal consumption expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge — showed that the headline index rose 0.4% on the month, just below the 0.5% rise that economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting. The headline index also rose 4.1% on a yearly basis, in line with expectations.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core PCE gained 0.3% month over month and 3.4% year over year. Both were also in line with what economists expected. While core inflation reached its highest level since October 2023, investors were relieved the numbers weren’t even higher in the wake of rising energy prices from the Middle East conflict.
Treasury yields edged lower, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note sliding more than 2 basis points to trade at 4.374%.
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