A pullback in oil prices sent stocks to all-time highs, with Wall Street also buoyed by renewed enthusiasm about the artificial-intelligence trade that has powered the bull market.
The advance in equities extended into a fourth straight day, driving the S&P 500 toward its first record close since August. Nvidia Corp.’s market value approached $6 trillion. Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s Lisa Su predicted “very high” chip demand over the next few years. A drop in Brent crude to $98 eased inflation anxiety, pushing Treasury yields lower.
Equities have held up well despite risks from higher energy costs and interest rates. While the narrative remains captured by bets on the path for global monetary policy and geopolitical developments, a less discussed factor is earnings resilience, said Kyle Rodda at Capital.com.
The US economy remains supportive of corporate revenues and profits, according to Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Chief Investment Office.
“We retain strong conviction in the AI growth story, and believe AI-related investment remains a powerful tailwind for the broader equity market,” she noted. “A favorable growth environment and robust earnings suggest profit growth can broaden beyond technology.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US can achieve 3% growth and restrain spending such that it will “very quickly” begin to alter the trajectory of government borrowing.
Equities have historically weathered rising-rate periods when the economy and profits kept growing, according to Anthony Saglimbene at Ameriprise.
“Stocks have room to move higher if the 2027 outlook for growth and profits remains firm, energy prices stabilize/fall, and the Fed signals its rate-hiking path will be short-lived,” he said. “Of course, any advance in stock prices through year-end will likely require a steady AI trade as well.”
As geopolitical fragmentation continues, most major economies are absorbing higher energy prices and tariffs better than expected, according to Tiffany Wilding and Andrew Balls at Pacific Investment Management Co.
“A booming AI investment cycle, the ability of consumers and China to absorb higher costs, and an incremental approach by central banks may help support growth while containing inflation,” they added.
Corporate Highlights:
- Paramount Skydance Corp. closed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., completing one of the biggest media mergers of all time after engaging in a bruising battle for control with Netflix Inc. and fending off antitrust lawsuits.
- Google parent Alphabet Inc. · agreed to buy nuclear power from Constellation Energy Corp. in a deal that will spur the addition of 890 megawatts of new reactor capacity.
- Anthropic PBC · ’s Mythos AI model has dramatically increased global cybersecurity risks, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said.
- OpenAI · is in talks with multiple investment funds from the United Arab Emirates, including Abu Dhabi-based MGX, to help anchor a $30 billion round of financing for the ChatGPT maker, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Moonshot AI · has closed the final round of private fundraising at a valuation of about $50 billion and is heading toward an initial public offering in Hong Kong in the first quarter of next year, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 11:15 a.m. New York time
- The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.9%
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
- The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.5%
- The MSCI World Index rose 0.8%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
- The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1259
- The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.3276
- The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 158.11 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin rose 0.9% to $86,583.14
- Ether rose 0.3% to $2,721.02
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined four basis points to 5.27%
- Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 3.48%
- Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 5.38%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.6% to $87.97 a barrel
- Spot gold rose 0.6% to $4,162.49 an ounce