Stock Market Today: Dow closes higher as big tech flexes muscles
Investing.com — The Dow closed higher Thursday, overcoming an intraday stumble as big tech resumed its climb higher, powered by a rally in Apple and chip stocks.
By 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 201 points, or 0.5%, while S&P 500 was up 0.9%, NASDAQ Composite climbed 1.4%.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose more than 4% after Bank of America upgraded its rating on the stock to buy from neutral on optimism that the need for the latest hardware to support artificial intelligence features on iPhones will drive more users to upgrade from earlier iPhone models.
As well as iPhone upgrade optimism, growth in services will likely also continue, spurred by progress in several categories including advertising and health and fitness, BofA added, as it upgraded its price target on the stock to $225 from $200.
Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) rose more than 1% as investors cheered media reports that company is eyeing further job cuts as part of a move to help simplify operations and increase velocity in some areas.
Semiconductor stocks were also in favor, underpinned by rally in Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM), with the latter up more than 9% after delivering an upbeat outlook following quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 187,000 for the week ended Jan. 13, the lowest level since September 2022.
The data pointing to ongoing strength in the labor market that threatens to boost wage pressures and inflation dented expectations for Fed cut in March.
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic
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