US stocks rally on semiconductor, small-cap surge

The S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, and the Russell 2000 all gained on Wednesday, with small caps leading the way higher.

Real estate, tech, and financials were the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETFs, all advancing more than 1%. Consumer discretionary, weighed down by Tesla and Amazon, fared the worst.

Alphabet’s cloud revenue growth in the fourth quarter underwhelmed, sending shares sharply lower. The company’s massive capex surprise, however, was great news for Broadcom, a key supplier.

Super Micro Computer built on Tuesday’s big gains with more of the same after announcing full production of a server solution that utilizes Nvidia’s highly sought-after Blackwell GPUs — an update that was positive for the chip designer as well. On the other hand, disappointing data center revenue growth tanked shares of Advanced Micro Devices, which suffered a raft of price target cuts from Wall Street analysts.

Despite the overhang from China and US trade frictions, shares of Mattel went skyward on the company’s strong earnings report and positive guidance.

Cannabis stocks like Tilray and Canopy Growth gained amid a hodgepodge of positive news on the industry.

Unlike rival Eli Lilly, which retreated after posting quarterly results, Novo Nordisk’s impressive growth in weight-loss drugs propelled shares higher.

EA also ramped higher after reporting earnings after the close on Tuesday.

Investors cheered Workday’s plans to cut jobs and lean more into AI.

Match Group slumped after its revenue outlook came in light relative to analysts’ projections.

Uber’s most profitable quarter ever came with a few operational asterisks, leading to a sell-off in the shares.