S&P 500 posts new record high as chipmakers leap

THE S&P 500 climbed to its fourth straight record high close on Wednesday, as Netflix surged following blowout quarterly results and a strong report from ASML fueled gains in chipmakers.

Riding optimism about Wall Street’s most valuable companies, Microsoft hit an all-time high, lifting its market value above $3 trillion for the first time.

The Nasdaq touched its highest since January 2022 and is now less than 4% below its record high close in November 2021.

Netflix jumped 10.7% to a two-year high after strong subscriber growth cemented investor confidence the firm has won the streaming wars with its password-sharing crackdown and a strong content slate.

The S&P 500 communication services index, which includes Netflix, rose 1.2% and also hit a two-year high.

Alphabet and Meta Platforms, part of the so-called Magnificent Seven group of heavyweights that drove much of 2023’s recovery in the S&P 500, each gained over 1%.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.08% to end the session at 4,868.55 points.

Even as the S&P 500 rose, declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the index by a 2.5-to-1 ratio.

The Nasdaq gained 0.36% to 15,481.92 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.26% to 37,806.39 points.

Volume on US exchanges was relatively heavy, with 11.6 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 11.4 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.

Tesla dipped 0.6% and weighed on the S&P 500. The car maker was scheduled to report December-quarter results after the closing bell.

The Philadelphia SE semiconductor index rose 1.54% to a record high after upbeat results from manufacturing equipment maker ASML Holding pointed to a recovery in global chip demand.

Nvidia and Broadcom both jumped more than 2% and hit record highs. Traders exchanged over $34 billion worth of Nvidia shares, more than any other stock on Wall Street, according to LSEG data.

AT&T dropped 3% after forecasting annual profit below expectations, while DuPont de Nemours slumped 14% after forecasting a fourth-quarter loss. —