WALL Street stocks closed solidly higher on Wednesday (Jun 5), with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hitting fresh highs while chip designer Nvidia topped US$3 trillion in market value.
This makes Nvidia only the third United States company to reach a market valuation of that level, after Microsoft and Apple.
The broad-based S&P 500 surged 1.2 per cent to 5,354.03, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 2 per cent to 17,187.90.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 per cent to 38,807.33.
The solid showing came as Nvidia crossed the US$3 trillion market capitalisation mark, surpassing tech giant Apple and seeing its shares close 5.2 per cent up.
“You have kind of the best of both worlds for the stock market in that you have lower interest rates and strength in the mega cap stocks, specifically, Nvidia,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.
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Other major names such as Facebook parent Meta Platforms advanced by 3.8 per cent, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise bounced 10.7 per cent.
Apple shares rose 0.8 per cent.
Economic data released on Wednesday also showed that private sector hiring cooled more than expected in May, with employers adding 152,000 jobs according to payroll firm ADP.
A cooler labour market could give the Federal Reserve confidence to cut interest rates sooner rather than later.
All eyes are on the government’s jobs report due on Friday for more evidence that the world’s biggest economy is cooling sufficiently for the central bank to start lowering rates.
A separate survey showed US services sector activity bounced back in May too, a shift that O’Hare said assuaged concerns about the economy and added to market optimism for a “soft landing” – where inflation comes down without a damaging downturn. AFP
