The S&P 500 and other benchmark indices opened in green on Thursday as Wall Street remained focused on key economic updates and a bullish tech momentum took over the market.
At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.46% up at 43,181.30, while S&P 500 began the with 0.38% jump at 6,116.08. The NASDAQ Composite index opened 70 points (0.65%) higher at 20,043.28.
The S&P 500 remained about 0.5% below its intraday record of 6,147.43 set in February and is also nearing its all-time closing high of 6,144.15.
The index ended Wednesday’s session nearly unchanged, as investors kept a close eye on whether the S&P 500 could retake its all-time high.
The geopolitical tensions are calm as the ceasefire between Iran and Israel is holding, but Donald Trump’s administration is facing a new headache after an American intel report claimed that Iran’s nuclear program is not completely destroyed.
“CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged by the recent, target strikes,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said while trying to downplay the intel reports.
Amid lingering suspense, Wall Street witnessed some tech action on Wednesday as Nvidia surged 4% after hitting a fresh 52-week high, while Alphabet rose 2% and AMD jumped 3%, adding momentum to the tech sector’s rally.
Pre-market movers
Micron set the tone in early trading on Thursday, with its shares climbing over 2% in the premarket after reporting record-breaking third-quarter revenue and offering a bullish forecast for the fourth quarter.
The chipmaker posted $9.3 billion in Q3 revenue, topping Wall Street estimates, and projected Q4 revenue of $10.7 billion, well above analyst expectations.
The surge is fueled by red-hot demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component in AI data centers. Management noted that its HBM supply is already sold out through 2025, with strong demand anticipated well into 2026.
In response, several analysts have raised their price targets on the stock.
On the earnings front, Walgreens is set to release its third-quarter results on Thursday, while Nike will report its fourth-quarter performance after the market closes.
Global markets remain mixed
The investors in the Asia-Pacific region remained cautious on Thursday, while European stock markets witnessed a rally after NATO decided to increase the defence spending to 5%.
Europe’s Stoxx Defense index was last seen trading 1.4% higher as the shares of defence companies rallied on Thursday.
At the time of publication, European indices were trading mixed on Thursday with Stoxx trading 0.2% lower while FTSE trading in green with a jump of 0.26%.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index continued its healthy climb at 39,584.58, 1.65% up from its previous close.
A similar trend was noticed in India, as the benchmark Sensex and Nifty 50 traded in the green on Thursday.
Sensex jumped over 1,000 points on Thursday to close at 83,755.87, while the Nifty 50 index closed 1.21% higher at 25,549.00.
But, other regional indices like South Korea’s Kospi 100, China’s CSI 300, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed in red on Thursday.
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