S&P 500 notches first record high close in 2 years; chipmakers soar

THE S&P 500 posted a record high close on Friday for the first time in two years, fueled by a rally in chipmakers and other heavyweight technology stocks on optimism around artificial intelligence (AI).

The benchmark’s close confirmed that the S&P 500 has been in a bull market since it closed at its low on Oct. 12, 2022, according to one measure which also puts that date as the end of a bear market.

In a sell-off between its record high close of 4,796.56 on Jan. 3, 2022 and its low in October 2022, the S&P 500 tumbled 25%.

On Friday, the S& 500 jumped 1.23% to end the session at 4,839.81 points.

Nvidia climbed 4.2% and Advanced Micro Devices rallied over 7% after server maker Super Micro Computer lifted its secondquarter profit forecast, sending its shares soaring 36%.

Investors exchanged $31 billion worth of Nvidia’s stock and $23 billion worth of AMD shares, higher turnover than any other company on Wall Street, according to LSEG data.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index soared 4% to a record high, while the S&P 500 information technology sector index jumped more than 2% to a record highs.

Microsoft and Apple, the world’s two most valuable companies, both rose more than 1%.

Chipmaker stocks have gained since Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, on Wednesday said it saw booming demand for high-end chips used in AI.

The Nasdaq jumped 1.7% to 15,310.97 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.05% to 37,863.80 points.

Volume on US exchanges was heavy, with 12.3 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 11.5 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.

After surging through December, Wall Street treaded water in recent weeks as investors reined in expectations the US Federal Reserve would start cutting interest rates as soon as March.

Interest rate traders now see a 52% chance of a March rate cut, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Stock investors were also cheered on Friday by the University of Michigan’s preliminary survey showing consumer sentiment improved in January to its highest level since the summer of 2021.

Travelers Cos. jumped 6.7% after the insurer’s fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, while State Street advanced 2.1% after the lender reported record net inflows in its Global Advisors unit in the fourth quarter. —