Risk Appetite Roars Back on Wall Street
Investors set aside weeks of caution and sent stocks sharply higher on Thursday, producing a rare synchronized advance across all three major benchmarks.
The Nasdaq Composite led the way, climbing 1.40% to close at 26,584.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average piled on 624 points — roughly 1.18% — to finish at 53,686.11, while the S&P 500 added 1.06% to settle at 7,747.71.
Semiconductor names bounced back after a choppy stretch, handing the tech-heavy Nasdaq the biggest gain on the board.
Two catalysts stood out:
- Geopolitics cooling off — reports that Iran paused strikes on Israel stripped some of the risk premium out of the market.
- Chips recovering — AI-linked and semiconductor stocks rebounded, giving growth shares fresh momentum.
Commodities Take a Breather
The de-escalation news landed squarely on crude. WTI oil traded near $91.67 a barrel, up a slim 0.41% but well below the triple-digit levels that rattled traders earlier in the week.
With risk appetite back, safe havens gave ground. Gold slipped 0.55% to $4,515 an ounce, and Bitcoin eased 0.76% to $80,934.
The 10-year Treasury yield drifted down to 4.756%, suggesting bond traders saw little reason to demand extra compensation overnight.
For one session, calm carried the day. If oil keeps retreating and chip strength holds, the rally could have room to run — though a single session rarely settles the argument.