The S&P 500 climbed to a fresh intraday record on Tuesday, overtaking its previous August peak as falling oil prices and Treasury yields gave stocks room to run. Chipmakers led the advance on AI-earnings optimism, though the rally remains concentrated in a handful of large tech names.
The S&P 500 rose as much as 0.6% to 7,817.13 points, moving past the previous intraday record of 7,816.7 points it hit on August 13. The index was last up 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 205 points, or 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.5% to hit its own all-time high.
Chipmakers drive the AI rally
Technology shares, particularly semiconductor names, powered much of Tuesday's advance. Shares of Marvell Technology popped 7%, while Nvidia and Broadcom each traded up around 1%. Nvidia has gained about 12% since the S&P 500's September low, pushing its market value to around $5.8 trillion.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor index of U.S. chip stocks is up almost 14% since the start of September. Analysts expect annual earnings growth for the S&P 500 of 29.5% for the three months to September, according to FactSet — the third consecutive quarter of growth above 25%. Pictet Asset Management's Arun Sai framed the quarter as an earnings upswing, saying he sees no evidence of that trend cracking in the short term.
Yields and oil ease the pressure
A calmer bond market and lower oil prices also lifted sentiment. The 10-year Treasury note yield fell 2 basis points to 5.29% after scaling levels not seen since 2002 on Monday, while the 2-year yield declined 3 basis points to 4.802%. Meanwhile, Brent crude traded 2% lower at around $98 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate futures shed 1% to roughly $87 a barrel.
Gains stay concentrated
However, the rally remains narrow. The equal-weighted version of the S&P 500 stays more than 5% below its record high, and only a third of the index's constituents have rallied since its mid-September low, while the other two-thirds have fallen further. According to the Financial Times, Bank of America analysts wrote: "Low breadth is a classic feature of bubbles building".
Sources: CNBC, Financial Times, Investing.com (Reuters)
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