The S&P 500 climbed 0.25%, achieving a record closing high for the first time in nine sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also posted gains, recovering from an early dip to finish near its intraday peak. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2%, despite some uneven trading throughout the day.
According to Yahoo Finance Markets and Data Editor Jared Blikre, the rally was notably comprehensive, with all 11 sectors of the S&P 500 finishing in positive territory. The energy sector (XLE) led the advance, closing up over 1%. Real estate and technology were among the other top performers. The financial sector also achieved a milestone, closing at a record high with a year-to-date gain of 11%.
Small-cap stocks, as tracked by the S&P 600, participated in the upward move, rising almost 0.8% and closing near their highs of the day.
Software and Semiconductors Lead Gains
Within the Nasdaq 100, notable outperformers included several software companies, with MongoDB and Datadog posting significant gains of 37% and 4%, respectively. The semiconductor space was mostly higher on an equal-weighted basis, with Intel and Western Digital each rising more than 1%.
A few major tech names bucked the positive trend. Nvidia, Meta and Tesla saw slight declines, though Nvidia remained within a few percentage points of its own record high.
Individual standouts in the Dow included Salesforce, which rose over 2.5%. Chevron and UnitedHealth also contributed to the index’s gains, each up over 1%.
As previously reported, Morgan Stanley strategists say AI could inject as much as $16 trillion into the S&P 500’s market cap, thanks to sweeping productivity gains and cost cuts across corporate America. That kind of upside would mark a 29% jump in the index’s total value. On an annual basis, the bank estimates large-cap companies could see around $920 billion in net benefits.
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