The S&P 500 rose 0.7% on Tuesday to 7,830 points, hitting an all-time high and its first intraday record in almost two months as Wall Street's enthusiasm for artificial intelligence overcame turbulence in the bond market.
The benchmark index would need to end the day with a gain of roughly 0.3% to officially close at its first record high since August 13 — which would mark its 28th record close of the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had closed at a record high on Monday.
The rally came as the 10-year Treasury yield, the benchmark for a wide range of borrowing costs, pulled back to around 5.29% on Tuesday after topping 5.35% on Monday, a multi-decade high. A dip in oil prices also helped: Brent crude fell 2% to $98 a barrel, still up more than 30% since the start of the war with Iran but a relief from recent triple-digit prices.
AI stocks doing the heavy lifting
Tech and AI stocks continued to carry the market. Nvidia, which accounts for more than 8% of the S&P 500, is closing in on a $6 trillion market capitalisation and is up 6% this month.
Still, the rally remains narrow. Tech is the only sector to have posted gains over the past month, while real estate, financials, materials and utilities have each dropped more than 5% as higher borrowing costs weigh on stocks. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average remains roughly 5% below a record set in early August.
"The breadth of the rally has narrowed," Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS, wrote in a note. "We retain strong conviction in the AI growth story... But the increasing concentration of market gains reinforces the importance of managing risk through a broadly diversified equity portfolio."
The S&P 500, a benchmark for trillions of dollars in retirement savings and personal investments, is up more than 14% this year and is on track for a fourth straight year of double-digit gains.
Sources:
CNN: US stocks hit record high, shrugging off bond market turmoil
Investopedia: Stock Market Today — S&P 500, Nasdaq Hit Fresh All-Time Highs
The benchmark index would need to end the day with a gain of roughly 0.3% to officially close at its first record high since August 13 — which would mark its 28th record close of the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had closed at a record high on Monday.
The rally came as the 10-year Treasury yield, the benchmark for a wide range of borrowing costs, pulled back to around 5.29% on Tuesday after topping 5.35% on Monday, a multi-decade high. A dip in oil prices also helped: Brent crude fell 2% to $98 a barrel, still up more than 30% since the start of the war with Iran but a relief from recent triple-digit prices.
AI stocks doing the heavy lifting
Tech and AI stocks continued to carry the market. Nvidia, which accounts for more than 8% of the S&P 500, is closing in on a $6 trillion market capitalisation and is up 6% this month.
Still, the rally remains narrow. Tech is the only sector to have posted gains over the past month, while real estate, financials, materials and utilities have each dropped more than 5% as higher borrowing costs weigh on stocks. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average remains roughly 5% below a record set in early August.
"The breadth of the rally has narrowed," Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS, wrote in a note. "We retain strong conviction in the AI growth story... But the increasing concentration of market gains reinforces the importance of managing risk through a broadly diversified equity portfolio."
The S&P 500, a benchmark for trillions of dollars in retirement savings and personal investments, is up more than 14% this year and is on track for a fourth straight year of double-digit gains.
Sources:
CNN: US stocks hit record high, shrugging off bond market turmoil
Investopedia: Stock Market Today — S&P 500, Nasdaq Hit Fresh All-Time Highs
