Wall Street Breaks Records, Chipmakers Rally, Tesla Hits 2-Month High As Fed Cut Drives Risk-On Mode: What’s Driving Markets Thursday?
By Benzinga
Wall Street is in full risk-on mode following the Federal Reserve’s landmark decision to slash interest rates by 50 basis points, signaling further cuts as inflation approaches the central bank’s target.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones both set fresh record highs during the morning session in New York, buoyed by strong performances from the Magnificent Seven tech giants.
By midday, these elite tech stocks added over $500 billion in market value, boosting their combined market capitalization to $15.9 trillion.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) led the rally, surging nearly 7% and hitting a two-month peak, while NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) climbed 5%, driving the semiconductor sector higher.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) jumped 4.6%, fully erasing its losses from September.
The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.9%, on pace for its strongest session in over a month and outperforming other major indices. Small caps joined the rally, with the Russell 2000 index surging 2%.
Commodities rallied across the board: Gold, silver, and copper increased by 1.2%, 3.8%, and 1.8%, respectively. Oil prices, tracked by the United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO), spiked over 3%.
The bullish sentiment extended to cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) rising over 2%, poised to close at its highest level since late August.
Thursday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day %chg |
| Nasdaq 100 | 19,905.70 | 2.9% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,249.90 | 2.0% |
| S&P 500 | 5,720.74 | 1.8% |
| Dow Jones | 42,002.90 | 1.2% |
According to Benzinga Pro data:
- The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 1.8% higher to $571.52.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose 1.2% to $421.23.
- The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rallied 2.8% to $484.99.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rose 1.9% to $223.63.
- The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) outperformed, up 0.2%. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) lagged, down 0.9%.
Thursday’s Stock Movers
- Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE:DRI) soared 9%, in response to its quarterly earnings and bullish outlook for upcoming quarters.
- Also reacting to earnings reports was FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) up 5%.
- Companies expected to report earnings after the close include FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) and Lennar Corp. (NYSE:LEN).
Read Next:
• Bank Stocks Hit Inflection Point After Fed’s 50 Basis Point Cut, Analyst Reveals Top Picks
Images was created using artificial intelligence DALL-E
