NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock market continued its rally from the previous day on Wednesday. Significantly falling oil prices as a result of further signs of relaxation in the Middle East conflict as well as a renewed increase in AI euphoria aroused investors’ buying mood. Labor market data from private service provider ADP showed little influence. The number of employees in the US private sector rose compared to the previous month, but less significantly than expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial rose by 1.0 percent to 49,803 points. The market-wide S&P 500, which once again reached a record high, gained 1.2 percent to 7,343 points. The technology-heavy NASDAQ 100 – also with another high – rose by 1.7 percent to 28,483 points.
US President Donald Trump is pushing for a diplomatic breakthrough in the conflict with Iran – and in the process is on a lurching course. First, he surprisingly announced that he would suspend the US mission to ensure safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz “for a short time.” There had been “great progress” towards a “comprehensive and final” agreement. During the stop, it should be examined whether an agreement could be signed with Iran. A little later, in another post, Trump again threatened Iran with military strikes if it did not agree to the US proposals.
According to market analyst Andreas Lipkow from the broker CMC Markets, the quarterly figures and the raised outlook for the semiconductor company AMD (AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)) are causing euphoria. “Even the wildest expectations were defeated,” praised Lipkow. Analysts significantly raised their price targets for AMD. Goldman Sachs and Bernstein also issued buy recommendations. The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving demand for server processors, wrote James Schneider from Goldman. AMD shares jumped to a record high and were recently up a good 17 percent.
Shares in Google parent company Alphabet (Alphabet A (ex Google)) climbed 2.3 percent to a record high. Previously, business publication The Information, which specializes in the tech industry, reported that AI company Anthropic plans to spend around $200 billion on Google over five years.
Improved profitability in Walt Disney’s streaming business as well as higher spending by guests at the leisure group’s resorts and on its cruises resulted in a share price gain of 6.7 percent. This put them at the top of the Dow Jones index. Disney’s adjusted earnings and revenue beat average analyst estimates.
The shares of Super Micro Computer rose by almost 18 percent. The server specialist also impressed with its quarterly report. Strong demand for AI servers drove sales up. He also reported improvements in margins and impressed with his profit outlook.
Corning shares rose 13.7 percent to a record high. The fiber optic cable manufacturer has entered into a broader partnership with NVIDIA aimed at expanding its artificial intelligence infrastructure. As part of the deal, Nvidia will acquire subscription rights for Corning shares worth $500 million. Corning committed to increasing U.S. production capacity of fiber optic cable for AI data centers by more than 50 percent.
Uber shares rose by 7.1 percent. The ride-hailing company’s quarterly figures and outlook were better than expected.
Kraft Heinz (Kraft Foods Group) stocks gained 1.9 percent. The ketchup manufacturer impressed with its earnings development in the past quarter./edh/he
