Wall Street today: US stocks soar as chipmakers rally, Micron climbs 17% on upbeat revenue forecast

US stocks advanced on Thursday as chipmaker Micron Technology’s upbeat revenue forecast revived the frenzy around artificial intelligence (AI).

At 9:46 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 219.41 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 42,134.16, the S&P 500 gained 37.03 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 5,759.29 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 201.80 points, or 1.12 per cent, to 18,284.01.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 198.7 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 42,113.42. The S&P 500 rose 40.0 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 5,762.22, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 245.1 points, or 1.36 per cent, to 18,327.34.

Shares of Micron Technology climbed 17.3 per cent after the chipmaker forecast higher than expected first quarter revenue, on robust demand for memory chips. It reported stronger profit for the second quarter.

Other chip stocks also surged on the AI optimism. Nvidia rose 2.8 per cent, Advanced Micro Devices gained 3.6 per cent and Broadcom added 2.2 per cent.

Better than expected jobless numbers for the week ended September 21 also lifted the investors’ sentiments.

Southwest Airlines stock soared 9.7 per cent after the carrier raised its third quarter revenue forecast.

Accenture stock gained 7 per cent after the IT services company forecast annual revenue above Wall Street estimates.

Electronics manufacturer Jabil climbed 13.4 per cent after the company reported stronger profit and revenue than expected.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was steady at 3.79 per cent. The 2-year yield rose to 3.61 per cent from 3.56 per cent.

Bullion

Silver prices rose to its highest level in nearly 12 years on Thursday, on the back of gold rally.

Spot silver was 1.3% up at $32.26 per ounce as of 1234 GMT, having hit $32.71 earlier in the day, its highest since December 2012.

Spot gold was up 0.6% at $2,673.21 per ounce, having hit a record high of $2,685.42 earlier in the day. US gold futures for December delivery rose 0.4% to $2,696.30.

Crude oil

Oil prices fell for a second day as Saudi Arabia was reported to be committed to increasing output in December.

Global benchmark Brent dropped below $72 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was near $68.