Broadcom and AMD rally; Constellation Energy surges 12.3% following power agreement with Google.
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield declines to 5.27%; semiconductor equipment and storage stocks face headwinds.
U.S. equities advanced as a decline in Treasury yields paired with optimism over corporate earnings growth. Bolstered by news supporting the continued expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) investments, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite both finished the session at record highs.
On the 6th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 253.38 points (0.49%) to close at 51,521.28. The S&P 500 gained 44.98 points (0.58%) to 7,818.93, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 122.48 points (0.45%) to 27,599.79. The S&P 500 surpassed its previous closing record set in August, while the Nasdaq reached a new high for the second consecutive session.
The easing of Treasury yields provided relief to the stock market. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell by 0.040 percentage points to 5.270%. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures recouped early losses to settle effectively flat, rising 0.01% to $89.44 per barrel.
Investor focus is increasingly shifting toward the third-quarter earnings season, which begins in earnest next week. According to financial data firm LSEG, the consensus forecast for third-quarter earnings growth among S&P 500 companies is 30.6% year-over-year, with the energy and technology sectors expected to drive the performance.
AI-related semiconductor firms reflected expectations for business expansion in their stock prices. Marvell Technology raised its fiscal 2028 sales revenue forecast from $18 billion to approximately $20 billion, citing growing demand for data center semiconductors. Shares of Marvell rose 5.81%.
AMD gained 2.80% after CEO Lisa Su announced plans to significantly increase semiconductor supply by 2027 to address rising AI demand. Broadcom added 3.67%, while Nvidia saw more modest gains, rising 0.14%.
However, the semiconductor sector showed mixed performance. Micron fell 1.73%, and Intel dropped 3.18%. Equipment manufacturers including Lam Research, Applied Materials, and KLA declined by 3.44%, 2.21%, and 4.54%, respectively. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed up 45.09 points (0.34%) at 13,217.82.
Storage device manufacturers suffered steeper losses. Seagate plummeted 9.18%, and Western Digital fell 6.93%. Concerns over intensifying competition surfaced following reports of Toshiba’s hard disk production expansion plans and the race for TDK’s magnetic head business. SanDisk also declined 2.56%. Conversely, server and networking companies Dell and Arista Networks gained 3.93% and 4.09%, respectively.
News regarding AI infrastructure investment served as a tailwind for utility stocks. Constellation Energy surged 12.3% following the announcement of a long-term power contract with Google. Under the 20-year power purchase agreement, the two companies plan to refurbish existing nuclear facilities to increase power generation capacity by 890 megawatts (MW).
Among large-cap technology stocks, Amazon rose 1.95% and Microsoft gained 0.78%. Tesla, Alphabet, and Apple also posted gains of 0.52%, 0.35%, and 0.22%, respectively, while Meta bucked the trend, declining 0.41%.
Consumer-related stocks joined the rally: Walmart rose 2.03%, Costco climbed 1.32%, and Home Depot and Lowe's added 1.97% and 2.32%, respectively. In contrast, the small-cap Russell 2000 index finished 0.59% lower at 2,830.30, decoupling from the performance of the large-cap indices.
