On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed significantly higher, propelled by strength in healthcare and financial stocks, while the technology sector underperformed.
As a Dow component, UnitedHealth Group saw its shares surge more than 5% following an upgraded stock rating from Bank of America, leading a broad rally across the healthcare sector. Financial stocks within the Dow, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and American Express, all advanced, with payment giant Visa also closing higher. By the afternoon close, the Dow Jones index had gained approximately 875 points, a rise of 1.7%.
The Nasdaq Composite Index showed weakness, closing slightly down by less than 0.1%. Investors paused their positioning in AI-related trades following the release of Broadcom's latest earnings report. The semiconductor and software company's demand guidance for its AI business fell short of optimistic market expectations, causing its stock to plummet over 13%. This dragged down other AI-related stocks across the supply chain, with Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Qualcomm all closing lower.
The S&P 500 index closed up 0.4% for the day, but its technology sector slumped 1.4%, weighed down by semiconductor stocks.
Meanwhile, international crude oil prices ended a three-day winning streak, falling about 3%. Israel and Lebanon reached a new, fragile ceasefire agreement; the previous conflict had been a key obstacle in US-Iran negotiations. Former President Trump suggested on social media that related talks were entering a later stage. US crude oil futures settled at $93.04 per barrel.
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