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Markets kept their early morning gains and — aside from a tiny dip downward near the start of the regular session on the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 — rode them higher throughout the course of the day. Closing at session highs, the Dow gained +348 points, +1.01%, the S&P 500 was +1.44%, the Nasdaq added +269 points or +1.93% to lead all major indexes, and the Russell clocked in at +1.13% on the day.
Part of today’s narrative, coming as it did following excellent numbers on Weekly and Continuing Jobless Claims this morning, was consistent with up-days we’ve seen in the recent past: stocks go up when oil prices go down. Both the WTI and Brent crude prices today dropped another -3% today, now off mid-March highs to prices per barrel of $111 and $114, respectively. And the yield curve between two-year and 10-year bonds has expended slightly back to around a quarter of a percent: 2.37% versus 2.13%, respectively.
Also, individual companies saw big gains on positive announcements and developments. NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) grew +9.8% on the day upon the unveiling of new A.I. server chips. Already a semiconductor leader in the A.I. market, the company keeps another step ahead of its competition. It also plans to build the world’s fastest A.I. computer, and CEO Jensen Huang already has an excellent track record of seeing the future landscape of the semiconductor market, and investors are taking his new bets seriously.
Apple (AAPL - Free Report) has announced a new plan to offer a hardware subscriber service for its customers. The world’s largest company already now will offer bundles to Apple Music, Apple TV, and other services to customers of its iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, etc. It seems similar to Amazon’s (AMZN - Free Report) wide array of products and services offered under its Prime subscriptions. Apple shares gained more than 2% on the day; the stock is now within 5% of breakeven, year to date.
Today’s “chip rally,” as it’s already become known, also owes a debt of gratitude to the NATO meetings in Brussels just wrapping up today, which garnered fresh sanctions against Russia to bend back its war of aggression in Ukraine. Aside from a billion dollars in humanitarian aid promised to victims in the war-torn country, more military aid will be forthcoming to Ukrainian forces. And 600 new Russian targets are now subject to harsh sanctions from the Western world, including 48 state-owned enterprises and Duma, the lower chamber of Russia’s legislature.
Basically, anything that hastens and end to the war in Ukraine — and a return to normal global trading policies (assuming they’re not already damaged beyond repair) — is a net positive for market participants. We’ll see if this notion has legs in Friday’s market; this week has been topsy-turvy, to say the least, but aims for a third-straight up-week.
Image: Bigstock
"Chip Rally," NATO Results, Drive Market Indexes
Markets kept their early morning gains and — aside from a tiny dip downward near the start of the regular session on the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 — rode them higher throughout the course of the day. Closing at session highs, the Dow gained +348 points, +1.01%, the S&P 500 was +1.44%, the Nasdaq added +269 points or +1.93% to lead all major indexes, and the Russell clocked in at +1.13% on the day.
Part of today’s narrative, coming as it did following excellent numbers on Weekly and Continuing Jobless Claims this morning, was consistent with up-days we’ve seen in the recent past: stocks go up when oil prices go down. Both the WTI and Brent crude prices today dropped another -3% today, now off mid-March highs to prices per barrel of $111 and $114, respectively. And the yield curve between two-year and 10-year bonds has expended slightly back to around a quarter of a percent: 2.37% versus 2.13%, respectively.
Also, individual companies saw big gains on positive announcements and developments. NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) grew +9.8% on the day upon the unveiling of new A.I. server chips. Already a semiconductor leader in the A.I. market, the company keeps another step ahead of its competition. It also plans to build the world’s fastest A.I. computer, and CEO Jensen Huang already has an excellent track record of seeing the future landscape of the semiconductor market, and investors are taking his new bets seriously.
Apple (AAPL - Free Report) has announced a new plan to offer a hardware subscriber service for its customers. The world’s largest company already now will offer bundles to Apple Music, Apple TV, and other services to customers of its iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, etc. It seems similar to Amazon’s (AMZN - Free Report) wide array of products and services offered under its Prime subscriptions. Apple shares gained more than 2% on the day; the stock is now within 5% of breakeven, year to date.
Today’s “chip rally,” as it’s already become known, also owes a debt of gratitude to the NATO meetings in Brussels just wrapping up today, which garnered fresh sanctions against Russia to bend back its war of aggression in Ukraine. Aside from a billion dollars in humanitarian aid promised to victims in the war-torn country, more military aid will be forthcoming to Ukrainian forces. And 600 new Russian targets are now subject to harsh sanctions from the Western world, including 48 state-owned enterprises and Duma, the lower chamber of Russia’s legislature.
Basically, anything that hastens and end to the war in Ukraine — and a return to normal global trading policies (assuming they’re not already damaged beyond repair) — is a net positive for market participants. We’ll see if this notion has legs in Friday’s market; this week has been topsy-turvy, to say the least, but aims for a third-straight up-week.
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