Stock market surges on Iran peace deal hopes; AMD, Nvidia rally on strong earnings
US stock markets hit record highs Wednesday as optimism grew over potential US-Iran peace negotiations. Tech stocks led gains, with AMD jumping 18% after beating earnings and Nvidia rising following a partnership announcement with Corning for optical manufacturing.
Market Records
The S&P 500 closed higher by 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2%, with both indexes closing at record highs, while the Russell 2000 index also added 1.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up by more than 610 points.
Tech Sector Strength
Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices soared 18.6% after the company issued a rosy outlook for the second quarter and beat expectations on the top and bottom lines in the first quarter, which lifted the broader chipmaker sector with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) jumping 5%.
Nvidia is partnering with glassmaker Corning for three new advanced manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas dedicated entirely to optical technologies, which will lead to the creation of at least 3,000 jobs and increase Corning's U.S. optical manufacturing capacity by 10-fold, with Corning shares soaring 17% on the news and Nvidia stock gaining nearly 2%.
Sector Performance
All but two S&P 500 sectors were in positive territory, with Industrials rising 2.7%, followed by information technology with a rise of 2.2%, and Materials advancing 2.1%, while energy and utilities fell 4.2% and 1.2%, respectively.