Big technology companies enjoyed strong trading on Thursday, pushing the Nasdaq higher as investors awaited Apple's results and continued bullishness on artificial intelligence.
Shares of Amazon, Google's parent company Alphabet, and Microsoft all rose after generally upbeat earnings reports in recent days. Apple, which reports earnings later Thursday, rose 2.2%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.5% to 15,840.96.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% to 38,225.66, and the S&P 500 index rose 0.9% to 5,064.20.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a rate hike was unlikely.
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“Investors breathed a sigh of relief as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell basically said there was little chance of a rate hike,'' said Sam Stovall of CFRA Research. “And I think that was the biggest concern for investors going into the Fed meeting thinking that Mr. Powell was going to be more hawkish than he actually was.”
Among individual companies, Moderna soared 12.7% as it pointed to progress in its drug pipeline and reaffirmed that it will reach $4 billion in sales in 2024.
Rivian Automotive jumped 6.7% after announcing it received $827 million in incentives from the state of Illinois to expand its plant in the state.
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Paramount Global rose 13.1% after it was reported that it had received a $26 billion takeover offer from Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management.
Peloton fell 2.5% after Barry McCarthy announced he would step down as CEO and cut his workforce by about 15%, or 400 jobs.
Although demand for at-home fitness has surged, the company is struggling due to a decline in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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