Chip stocks lead widespread rally
A big rally in chip stocks amid continued optimism on the AI boom coupled with smaller advances in most stocks made for another strong session on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6%, the Nasdaq 100 ended up 0.8%, and the Russell 2000 led the way with a 1.6% gain on Tuesday.
Tech was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, but unlike Monday, gains were more widespread, with advancers in the S&P 500 outnumbering decliners by 218. Real estate, communication services, and consumer staples were the lone sectors to end negative.
The day’s gains were led by discount retailer Dollar General, which soared nearly 16% after crushing Q1 estimates and upping its forecast as more shoppers go bargain hunting. Rival Dollar Tree was also a standout performer, benefiting from its competitor’s solid showing and outlook. Declines were led by Neutrogena parent Kenvue, which sank 6% after the consumer health giant said seasonal demand is off to a slow start.
Elsewhere…
Broadcom set an intraday and closing record high after announcing that it’s started to ship some new AI hardware.
Shares of Nvidia-backed CoreWeave surged surged 25% in a strong follow-through to the already warm reception to its data center deal with Applied Digital on Monday.
Rocket Lab soared as much as 5% after the commercial space company (and retail favorite) received a pair of price target hikes: one from Deutsche Bank, to $27 from $24, and another from KeyBanc Capital Markets, which raised its target by a buck to $29. It then pared those gains to finish up just 0.5%
Similarly, Constellation Energy was up double digits in the premarket after striking a deal to sell power to Meta, but finished marginally in the red.
Bumble shares slid 6% after JPMorgan downgraded the women-first dating app to underweight (or a “sell” rating) as the platform faces slowing growth and hotter competition.
Pinterest shares climbed about 4% after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to “overweight” (buy) and lifted its price target to $40, citing deeper user engagement and momentum in its ad business.
Hims & Hers fell 3.5%, giving up all its gains after rising more than 17% in early trading following its announcement that it would acquire a European peer, Zava.
Nio finished modestly higher even as the Chinese luxury EV maker missed Wall Street’s Q1 revenue estimates and posted a much larger loss per share than analysts had forecast.
