US equity markets finished higher on Thursday, led by technology shares after strong earnings from Nvidia. The S&P 500 gained 0.7%, the Nasdaq climbed 1.4%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 105 points.
Nvidia jumped 8.7% after robust demand for AI computing prompted the world’s largest company to project a 70% increase in revenue for the next fiscal year. The outlook countered lingering doubts that capital expenditure on AI infrastructure might soon taper off.
The upbeat guidance lifted other AI-infrastructure plays: Broadcom rose 4.5% and Intel added 4.4%. Large cloud providers also benefited, with Microsoft up 1.7% and Oracle gaining 2.1%.
Software infrastructure names rallied sharply. Palantir advanced 4.7%, Salesforce surged 22.6%, CrowdStrike leapt 20.5%, and Palo Alto Networks climbed 12.8%.
Outside of technology, broader sectors lagged against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. Long-term Treasury yields stayed elevated, pressured by widening federal deficits, heavy AI-related debt issuance, mounting foreign trade frictions, and concerns that higher energy costs could rekindle inflation.
