NEW YORK (AP) โ Nvidia sparked a rally on Wall Street on Thursday after the artificial intelligence chip maker reported another spectacular quarter.
The S&P 500 rose 1.5% in morning trading. The big gain puts the benchmark index on track for another record high and pushes it into winning territory for the week after two lackluster days.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 248 points, or 0.6%, to 38,857 as of 10:57 a.m. ET. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 2.2%.
Nividia rose 15.1% after reporting that its revenue and profits soared in the latest quarter thanks to booming demand for its chips used for artificial intelligence. The stock has tripled over the past year thanks to a surge in investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence.
Synopsis, which makes software used to test and develop chips, rose 10.7% after raising its profit forecast.
Other chipmakers and companies involved in the chip manufacturing industry gained ground. Advanced Micro Devices rose 10% and Lam Research rose 3.6%.
Overnight, Japan's Nikkei 225 hit an all-time high. Record gains in corporate profits have increased the attractiveness of Japanese company stocks, along with the weakness of the Japanese yen against the US dollar.
The Asian and European markets gained ground.
Bond yields remained relatively stable. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.31% from 4.32% late Wednesday.
On the losing side, electric truck and SUV maker Rivian fell 26.7% after reporting another loss and issuing a weaker-than-expected production outlook. Lucid, another electric vehicle maker, fell 18.2% after missing Wall Street sales forecasts and also gave a weaker production estimate than analysts had asked for.
Online craft marketplace Etsy fell 7.4% after missing Wall Street's earnings forecast by a wide margin.
Technology stocks have been the driving force behind the market rally that began in October. Strong earnings from some of the biggest names in the sector are helping to justify and reinforce those big gains.
Wall Street expects just under 4% growth in earnings for the broader S&P 500 during the fourth quarter. The communication services sector, which includes Google parent Alphabet, is expected to record 45% growth. Information technology companies, including Nvidia, are expected to post 22% growth.
โNear-term momentum for AI-related stocks is likely to continue,โ said Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer for the Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Nearly 90% of S&P 500 companies have reported profits. There are still some big names in play this week. Online travel giant Booking Holdings and TurboTax maker Intuit will report later Thursday.
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Business writers Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed.
