S&P 500 closes over the 5,000 threshold for the first time thanks to a megacap rise

S&P 500 closes over the 5,000 threshold for the first time thanks to a megacap rise

As investors gambled on artificial intelligence and waited for positive earnings reports, the S&P 500 ended over 5,000 for the first time on Friday, while the Nasdaq briefly surged past 16,000 thanks to advances in megacaps and semiconductor companies, especially Nvidia. Continued.

The Nasdaq temporarily crossed over 16,000, helped by megacap and chip firms, especially Nvidia, as investors gambled on artificial intelligence technology and solid earnings data that was anticipated. The S&P 500 closed above 5,000 for the first time on Friday.

As investors gamble on artificial intelligence technology and expect excellent profits, the S&P 500 closed over 5,000 for the first time on Friday, while the Nasdaq briefly traded above 16,000, lifting megacap and chip firms like Nvidia.eta.

Following Reuters' story that Nvidia (NVDA.O) was working on cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the company opened the new tab up 3.6% and reached a record high.It was setting up a new business unit dedicated to developing custom chips for companies in the cloud computing space as well as other companies, including Rosser.

It comes as The Wall Street Journal revealed on Thursday that Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was in negotiations with investors to seek funds for a technological effort that would increase chip production capacity to fuel artificial intelligence, among other things. To that end, a new tab was established.

According to David Lefkowitz, head of UBS Global Wealth Management's U.S. equities division, "the story of AI to far has been about building infrastructure, chips, and data centers." He said that the study "at the very least emphasizes that there is potentially an incredible amount." "There is growing demand for additional AI infrastructure."

Lefkowitz said that while the round number milestones on the S&P and Nasdaq probably won't alter investors' assessments of the market's potential for risk and return, "it raises the profile of how things are going in the market."

Launch a new tab The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (.SOX), which finished up 1.99%, underperformed Amazon.com (AMZN.O) as market titans focusing on technology, such as Microsoft (MSFT.O), opened new windows. Upon opening a new tab, Alphabet (GOOGL.O) was at the top of the index as well.

Wall Street now anticipates fourth-quarter profits to grow 9.0%, compared with a 4.7% gain forecast on January 1, according to LSEG data, which includes results from roughly two-thirds of S&P 500 firms. Additionally, 81% of businesses performed better than projected. 76% on average over the previous four reporting cycles.

The first quarter's earnings exceeded forecasts, according to Tim Grisky, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York. "In addition, reports surfaced about Nvidia's potential expansion into cloud computing—another growth sector outside artificial intelligence. They are significant motivators.

The S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 28.70 points, or 0.57%, to 5,026.61; the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) launched a new tab and jumped 196.95 points, or 1.25%, to 15,990.66; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) started a new tab and dipped 54.64 points, or 0.14%, to 38,671.69.

With a surge in AI optimism and strong profits, the S&P 500 has already set ten intraday records this year.

Just 0.4% separated the Nasdaq from its record closing high of 16,057.44, which was established in November 2021.

The week saw gains for all three indices, with the Dow up 0.04%, the S&P up 1.4%, and the Nasdaq up 2.3%. This was the sixth week in a row for the indexes.

Previous data revealed that US monthly consumer prices increased less in December than first anticipated, but underlying inflation stayed rather heated. This contradictory picture reduced expectations on when the Federal Reserve would decrease interest rates.

Expectations that the Federal Reserve will start reducing interest rates in March have been shattered by recent hawkish remarks made by Fed members in conjunction with strong economic statistics.

Grysky, however, draws attention to the Fed's official projections in the "dot-plot," which continue to indicate a rate decrease this year.

"The market is being driven by the Fed. The pinnacle of interest rates seems to have been attained. There will be a lower step after this one. When it will happen is unknown to us. The Fed continues to reject that theory, but the polls indicate that things will become easier in the second half.

Investors are waiting for January consumer pricing data the next week in order to get more hints about the timing of the Fed's rate decrease.

In terms of individual equities, Cloudflare (NET.N) created a new tab after rising 19.5% and exceeding sales and profit projections for the first quarter. However, despite a narrower-than-expected loss, PepsiCo's (PEP.O) fourth-quarter sales fell 3.6% as demand for its drinks and Lay's crisps was hampered by consecutive price hikes.

Pinterest Opens in a New Tab (PINS.N) After the company revealed first-quarter revenue that was below Wall Street forecasts, shares dropped 9.5%.

On the NYSE, advances exceeded decliners by a ratio of two to one, resulting in 456 new highs and 64 new lows.

2,960 items rose and 1,300 sank on the Nasdaq, for a ratio of 2.3 to 1, with 1,300 stocks rising relative to decreasing issues.

While the Nasdaq registered 312 new highs and 91 new lows, the S&P 500 posted 47 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows.

11.53 billion shares were traded on US exchanges, compared to the moving average of 11.69 billion for the previous 20 sessions.