Wall Street Soars Near Records, AMD And ASML Jump 6%: What's Moving Markets Thursday?

U.S. stocks rallied near record territory on Thursday as blowout earnings from major Wall Street firms and renewed confidence in the AI trade lifted risk appetite.

The Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.2%, on track to fully erase Wednesday's losses, while the S&P 500 climbed nearly 1%.

Semiconductor stocks led the advance after blockbuster quarterly results from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) reignited enthusiasm across the AI supply chain.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) and Dutch chipmaker ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) surged about 6% each, buoyed by TSMC's stronger-than-expected capital spending outlook.

The rally extended across the chip equipment space, with KLA Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC) soaring 9% and Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) gaining roughly 8%.

In financials, investor sentiment was reassured after strong earnings from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), which rose 4% and 5%, respectively, following mixed results from the sector earlier this week.

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK) also stood out, climbing more than 5% after the world's largest asset manager reported record quarterly inflows of $341.7 billion and assets under management reaching $14 trillion.

Strength in large financial institutions spilled over into regional banks, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE:KRE) surging and helping lift small-cap stocks. The Russell 2000 notched record highs for the tenth straight session, pushing year-to-date gains above 7%.

In economic news, initial jobless claims declined by 9,000 to 198,000 in the week ending Jan. 10, defying forecasts for a rise to 215,000 and marking the second-lowest level in two years. The outcome bolstered confidence around the resilience of the U.S. labor market at the start of the year.

Equities were further supported by a sharp pullback in commodity prices, particularly energy. West Texas Intermediate crude slid more than 5% to $58 a barrel, wiping out weekly gains as fears of imminent U.S. intervention in Iran faded.

Safe-haven assets retreated as well, with gold down 0.4% and silver falling 1.9%. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) edged 0.4% lower to around $96,000.

Thursday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 0.9% to $638.98.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) moved 0.7% higher to $495.11.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 1.1% to $626.00.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rallied 1.2% to $266.56.
• The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) outperformed, up 1.6%; the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) lagged, down 0.8%.

Russell 1000's Top 5 Gainers

Russell 1000's Top 5 Losers

Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.