The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit new record highs on Thursday, as the technology industry regained the lead and traders considered a purported agreement between US and Iranian negotiators to extend the truce.
The broader index and the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged.
Tech stocks rallied on Thursday after a strong earnings outlook from Snowflake revived enthusiasm for the artificial intelligence trade. Shares rose about 37%, on track for their best day ever after the cloud data platform provider posted rosy guidance for its fiscal second quarter, as well as a decline in revenue and profit in its most recent quarter. The firm also signed off on a plan to spend $6 billion on Amazon Web Services over five years.
The report helped lift other business software stocks, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF rising nearly 3%. Shares of memory firms jumped, with Sandisk shares up more than 6%. Chip giants like Qualcomm and Advanced Micro Devices jumped 6% and 5%, respectively.
Shares hit session highs after Axios, citing two U.S. officials and a regional source, reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had agreed on a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire and further talks on Iran’s nuclear program, SEEbiz reports. However, President Donald Trump has not yet given final approval to the deal, according to the report.
“The market was expecting some kind of MOU here,” said David Wagner, head of equities at Aptus Capital Advisors. “You’ll see discretionary names emerge as the first knee-jerk reaction to a lot of this news, which can push the market higher.”
Oil prices retreated from record highs following the report. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures price
it last traded below $89 per barrel, while the Brent futures price traded around $93 per barrel. Both were higher earlier in the day, after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Thursday it had targeted a US air base, according to the Tasnim news agency. This is happening after the US military carried out new attacks in Iran on a military facility.
