Wall St see-saws after rally on AI boost, inflation relief

By Amruta Khandekar and Johann M Cherian

(Reuters) -The and Nasdaq climbed on Friday as chipmakers extended gains on persistent AI-frenzy, while a dip in Treasury yields following soft economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials gave further boost.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq came within a whisker of its all-time intraday peak hit in November 2021 after notching a record closing high in the previous session.

The index has been riding on an AI wave sparked by chip designer Nvidia (NASDAQ:)’s bumper forecast last month.

Shares of Nvidia climbed 3.4%, while those of its rival Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) gained 3.8% to a fresh record high. The broader Philadelphia semiconductor index advanced 3.3% to an all-time peak.

The Wall Street rally further strengthened as the yield on the two-year note dropped to 4.56%.

The dip came after a reading showed U.S. manufacturing slumped further in February. The data, which followed an in-line inflation reading on Thursday, kept alive bets that the Fed could begin cutting interest rates in June.

“All the economic data is not too hot, not too cold and it’s pretty solid,” said Randy Frederick, founder of Randy Frederick Media .

“What you really want is just solid business, people to stay employed and to have money to spend. All of that is happening.”

Investors also digested comments from Fed Governor Chris Waller, who said the central bank’s upcoming decisions about the ultimate size of its balance sheet has no bearing on its inflation fight.

Meanwhile, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said it is too soon to predict when the Fed will be able to begin cutting rates.

At 11:36 a.m. ET, the was down 21.44 points, or 0.05%, at 38,974.95 and the was up 97.22 points, or 0.60%, at 16,189.14.

The S&P 500 was up 16.76 points, or 0.33%, at 5,113.03 after hitting an intra-day record high of 5,121.68 points earlier in the day.

Wall Street’s three main indexes closed February on a high in the prior session, clocking their fourth straight monthly gains on Thursday due to euphoria around AI and a strong fourth-quarter earnings season.

The S&P 500 energy sector was the top sectoral performer on Friday with a 1.5% rise.

Among major movers, New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:) slumped 25.9% after the regional lender said it had found “material weaknesses” in internal controls related to its loan review and revised its fourth-quarter loss 10 times above the previously stated numbers.

The KBW regional banking index dropped 1.9%.

Dell Technologies (NYSE:) jumped 25.6% after the personal computer maker forecast annual revenue and profit above Wall Street estimates

The Dow Jones was pressured by a 1.1% fall in shares of Boeing (NYSE:) after a report said the planemaker was in talks to buy supplier Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:).

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.78-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 71 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 133 new highs and 61 new lows.

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