Nvidia leads Nasdaq and S&P 500 to record high closes
Nasdaq and S&P 500 rallied to record high closes on Wednesday, fueled by gains in Nvidia and other Wall Street heavyweights ahead of inflation data and quarterly earnings reports due this week.
It was the Nasdaq's seventh straight record-high close and the S&P 500's sixth straight. The S&P 500 crossed 5,600 for the first time after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stoked expectations for an interest-rate cut in September.
Powell said in his second day of Congressional testimony that he was not ready to conclude that inflation was moving sustainably down to 2%, although he expressed «some confidence of that».
The Philadelphia semiconductor index surged 2.4% to a record high after contract manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co posted strong quarterly revenue.
"TSMC's report supported the AI narrative, so that more than anything else today is a pretty important data point," said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta.
Micron Technology jumped 4%, Nvidia climbed 2.7% and Advanced Micro Devices added 3.9%.
Apple climbed 1.9% to a record high, lifting its stock market value to $3.6 trillion.
With just a handful of large-cap stocks fueling Wall Street's rally this year, some investors worry about a potential selloff if those companies' earnings fail to meet high expectations.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.02% to end the session at 5,633.91 points.
The Nasdaq gained 1.18% to 18,647.45 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.09% to 39,721.36 points.
The S&P
