US stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday, erasing losses from the previous two sessions as lower oil prices helped pull down Treasury yields. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 each gained more than 1%, while the Dow advanced 0.7%. Crude and fuel prices eased back from their recent surge after Saudi Arabia signaled progress in restoring production capacity via its East–West pipeline, tempering some of the latest spike in wholesale energy inflation.
Elevated inflation pressures had prompted the Federal Reserve to raise rates by 25 bps on Wednesday, and FOMC projections indicated a broad consensus for at least one additional rate increase this year. Chipmakers led Thursday’s advance, extending their rebound after earlier worries over AI safety had cast doubt on near-term AI capital spending. Intel, AMD, Marvell, Seagate, and Lam Research each climbed about 4%. Credit-sensitive banks and major AI “hyperscaler” names also rallied, with Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon gaining nearly 2% apiece.
