By Twesha Dikshit and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) -Wall Street’s main indexes gained on Wednesday, with the Dow at a record high, as investors cheered a likely end to the longest U.S. government shutdown and as an upbeat earnings outlook from Advanced Micro Devices revived optimism around AI.
AMD advanced 8.2% after the chip designer said it expects annual data center chip revenue of $100 billion within the next five years, and earnings to more than triple.
U.S. stocks came under pressure early on Tuesday after news Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group sold its stake in Nvidia and a forecast cut from AI cloud services provider CoreWeave raised concerns about rapidly growing valuations among tech companies.
On Wednesday, the broader semiconductor index gained 1.8%, while information technology shares rose 0.4%.
Goldman Sachs was the biggest boost to the Dow, up 2.2%. Financials on the S&P 500 gained 1%.
At 9:41 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 361.85 points, or 0.77%, to 48,297.95, the S&P 500 gained 16.96 points, or 0.26%, to 6,864.31 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 7.81 points, or 0.03%, to 23,476.11.
Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives headed back to Washington for a vote, that could reopen the government and restore stability to air travel and food subsidies.
“There is an even bigger mountain ahead of us and that is the resumption of all of the economic data,” said Michael Landsberg, CIO at Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management.
“The market had been flying blind with no data and now as the fog lifts, we will see if market positioning has been correct and it is still clear sailing or if there is a big repricing necessary.”
The vote is due to take place on Wednesday evening on a compromise that would restore funding to government agencies, with President Donald Trump expected to sign it into law.
The 42-day long closure has weighed on the economy. In the absence of government-collected data, both the Federal Reserve and traders have looked to private economic indicators to gauge the economic impact.
Tuesday’s weekly update of ADP’s preliminary payroll figures pointed to continued weakness in the labor market, with private employers shedding an average of 11,250 jobs a week for the four weeks ending October 25.
Traders are currently pricing in a 63% probability of a 25-basis-point reduction at December’s monetary policy meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
A host of Fed policymakers, including Governor Christopher Waller, are scheduled to speak through the day.
With the third-quarter earnings season slowly winding down, 82% of 446 companies in the S&P 500 have reported their profits above analyst expectations compared to a long-term average of 67%, according to LSEG data.
AI bellwether Nvidia’s earnings next week could test the optimism around the technology which has driven markets to record highs this year, but come under more scrutiny in recent weeks.
Among other moves, shares of IBM rose 2.9%, after announcing new quantum computing chips.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.99-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.89-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 47 new highs and 38 new lows.
(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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