The Dow surged more than 900 points on Thursday as investors piled into banks, healthcare and other value stocks while dumping high-flying chipmakers, shrugging off weaker-than-expected economic data and hawkish signals from Federal Reserve officials.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.7% to close at 51,561.93. The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite finished with a small loss as semiconductor stocks came under heavy pressure.
The blue-chip index notched a fresh intraday record high while the broader market pushed back toward all-time highs despite a sharp selloff in technology shares.
The day’s biggest loser was Broadcom, shares of which tumbled 13% after investors reacted negatively to the company’s earnings outlook despite another quarter of booming artificial-intelligence revenue growth.
Rather than abandoning stocks altogether, investors appeared to rotate out of crowded AI trades and into financials, healthcare and other sectors viewed as better positioned heading into Friday’s closely watched jobs report.
That report, due before the opening bell, is expected to provide Wall Street with its next major clue about the health of the labor market and the path of interest rates.
The selloff spilled across the semiconductor sector, dragging down names including Micron Technology and Arista Networks and weighing on the Nasdaq.
CrowdStrike also came under pressure despite reporting strong results and raising guidance — another sign of growing investor fatigue with richly valued AI-linked stocks.
The weakness in technology contrasted sharply with gains elsewhere.
Healthcare and financial shares led the advance, with UnitedHealth, Humana, Elevance, Goldman Sachs and Blackstone among the session’s standout performers.
Investors also welcomed a sharp decline in oil prices.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell nearly 3% to about $93 a barrel while Brent crude dropped roughly 2.6% to around $95 a barrel amid signs that President Trump wouldn’t restart military conflict with Iran.
Lower energy prices eased concerns about inflation and helped fuel buying in sectors that tend to benefit from lower input costs and declining rate pressures.
Earlier in the day, government data showed initial jobless claims rose to 225,000 last week, topping economists’ expectations of 213,000. Separate data showed first-quarter productivity growth was revised down to 0.3%.
The reports added to signs that the economy may be cooling, though not enough to trigger widespread concerns about a recession.
Federal Reserve officials maintained a cautious tone.
San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said artificial intelligence was not a pressing issue for monetary policy, while Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid suggested the central bank’s choices remained patience or potentially higher rates if inflation proves stubborn.
Despite those warnings, volatility declined.
The Cboe Volatility Index, Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge, fell more than 4% to roughly 15.4, signaling little evidence of broad investor panic.