Wall St bounces back, ending higher on renewed tech vigour, easing AI concerns
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Traders working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, in New York City, on Feb 24.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Wall Street indexes rose, led by tech and semiconductors, as renewed AI enthusiasm offset disruption concerns after previous declines.
- AMD soared after a US$60 billion AI chip deal with Meta; Anthropic's new AI plug-ins boosted partners like Thomson Reuters.
- AI's impact remains debated: some fear job losses, others see minimal disruption. Lingering tariff uncertainties also affected market sentiment.
AI generated
NEW YORK - Wall Street closed higher on Feb 24, with tech stocks leading the charge as renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence offset concerns over potential disruptions caused by the nascent technology.
Speculation regarding AI’s possible impact on a wide variety of sectors has prompted oversized moves in stocks and indexes in recent weeks, with Feb 23’s steep decline the latest example of on-again, off-again risk appetite amid these uncertainties.
“We’re in for a period of time where the market will be going through some uncertainty and today we’re seeing a little bit of a buy on the dip,” said Mr Matthew Keator, managing partner in the Keator Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts.
“We’re going to see day-to-day movements but overall, there’s so much unknown in terms of how AI ends up being additive or disruptive to some of these companies.”
All three major US stock indexes posted solid gains on the session, with semiconductors outperforming.
The battered S&P Software & Services index advanced 1.3 per cent. Artificial intelligence lab Anthropic announced several new plug-ins targeting areas such as investment banking and human resources, weeks after its earlier releases stoked a selloff of traditional software stocks.
The company said its new plug-ins were developed jointly with partners, among them Thomson Reuters, which owns Reuters news agency, Salesforce and FactSet.
FactSet stock rose 5.9 per cent, while US-listed shares of Thomson Reuters jumped 11.5 per cent.
Salesforce advanced 4.1 per cent, among the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s biggest percentage gainers.
Other sectors ranging from commercial real estate to trucking and logistics have recently logged steep declines, as AI developments gave rise to concerns of industry-specific disruptions.
“Anthropic’s been busy with announcements that their product is going to do all these new and sort of wonderful things,” said Mr Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut.
“It’s still early on in the process and certainly acceptance and the application of these tools is probably still a ways away.”
Monetary policymakers weighed in on AI’s potential impact on the labour market. Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook said the technology could lead to a possible rise in the unemployment rate, while Fed governor Christopher Waller said he does not expect AI to disrupt the labour market.
The US Supreme Court’s decision on Feb 20 to strike down many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and Mr Trump’s subsequent threat to implement a fresh round of levies against goods imported from abroad, remained a source of lingering uncertainty.
“There are still questions about the deals that were in place already,” Mr Pavlik said. “What happens to those? Are they still happening?”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 370.44 points, or 0.76 per cent, to 49,174.50, the S&P 500 gained 52.32 points, or 0.77 per cent, to 6,890.07 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 236.41 points, or 1.05 per cent, to 22,863.68.
Among the major sectors of the S&P 500, consumer discretionary and technology led the gainers, while healthcare shares suffered the steepest percentage losses.
Airlines and travel/leisure-related stocks , which were battered on Feb 23 in the wake of a winter storm that paralysed much of the north-east, both enjoyed robust rebounds, advancing 2.9 per cent.
Home Depot, another Dow component, advanced 2 per cent after the home-improvement retailer beat fourth-quarter estimates and maintained its annual forecasts.
Advanced Micro Devices announced it would sell up to US$60 billion in AI chips to Meta Platforms over the next five years in a deal that would allow the Facebook parent to buy as much as 10 per cent of the chipmaker.
AMD shares rose 8.8 per cent, while Meta inched 0.3 per cent higher. Keysight Technologies leaped 23.1 per cent after the electronic equipment maker forecast second-quarter profit ahead of Wall Street estimates.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.06-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 464 new highs and 159 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 3,194 stocks rose and 1,493 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.14-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 46 new 52-week highs and 13 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 99 new highs and 164 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 17.06 billion shares, compared with the 20.29 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. REUTERS
