US: Stocks close higher on resurgent AI optimism
US STOCKS finished higher on Wednesday, propelled by resurgent optimism about AI, and fading concern about the economic threat posed by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7 per cent to 44,873.28, while the broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.4 per cent to close at 6,061.48.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.2 per cent to 19,692.33, held down by a 7.3 per cent fall in the share price of Google’s parent company Alphabet following disappointing quarterly results.
There was some good news for companies linked to the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, after Alphabet’s pledge to invest US$75 billion in capital expenditure (CapEx) related to AI.
“The market has kind of separated out the weakness seen in Alphabet as sort of just an Alphabet issue,” Briefing.com’s Patrick O’Hare told AFP.
“You take that big CapEx number and that’s a little bit staggering, obviously,” he said.
“If they’re going to spend US$75 billion in 2025, that should be pretty good for, you know, a company like Nvidia,” he added, referring to the major chip designer whose shares closed up 5.4 per cent.
The move had “helped energise the AI trade a bit,” he added. AFP
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