By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is recovering some of its losses for the week on Thursday, as the roller coaster for artificial-intelligence companies turns back upward. They also got some help from easing oil prices and Treasury yields, which relaxed the pressure even though worries are rising about the war with Iran and accelerating inflation.
The S&P 500 added 0.6%, coming off a back-to-back drop that yanked it back to where it was in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 373 points or 0.7%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher.
AI stocks helped lead the market, as they have since last week then they went from roaring to records to suddenly turning lower. The big concern is whether such stocks shot too high, too fast because of AI mania, and they’ve been careening up and down, sometimes hour by hour.
Marvell Technology jumped 4.3%, for example. It’s coming off a manic stretch where it plunged 16.7%, soared 9.6% and then fell more than 5% for two straight days. Just before that, it had a one-day surge of 32.5% that was its best in history when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested it could be “the next trillion-dollar company.” It’s now worth a bit more than $220 billion.
Companies in the chipmaking industry jumped to some of the market’s biggest gains. Intel jumped 10.4%, and Applied Materials climbed 8%.
That helped offset a drop of 10.3% for Oracle. It reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but it also said it expects to raise $40 billion in cash this fiscal year through borrowing and sales of its stock. That comes after it raised $48 billion last fiscal year to help pay for AI investments.
Other companies’ stocks have also been punished recently for announcing heavy spending on AI, as the question remains whether all the investment can produce the kinds of profits and productivity that AI proponents are promising.
Oil prices, meanwhile, sank despite the latest fighting in the war with Iran, which has hurt the flow of oil deliveries from the Persian Gulf. President Donald Trump threatened to launch major strikes on Iran and seize control of its oil and gas industries.
The United States and Iran have launched attacks over the past several days after a more than monthlong tenuous ceasefire. While the strikes have escalated tensions in the region, they have been more limited compared to the early weeks of the war and talks aimed at extending the ceasefire are ongoing.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 1.1% to $92.08 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude oil slipped 0.6% to $89.52 per barrel.
High oil prices have sent inflation higher, and a report on Thursday showed that prices at the U.S. wholesale level increased by more in May than economists expected. The effect is worldwide, and the European Central Bank on Thursday became the first major central bank to raise interest rates in response.
Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation. But they also simultaneously slow entire economies and undercut prices for all kinds of investments, including stocks and cryptocurrencies. They hit investments seen as the most expensive in particular, and some critics are calling AI a bubble where investment inflated too far.
The Federal Reserve will make its own decision on interest rates next week under its new chair, Kevin Warsh. He was appointed by Trump, who has been pushing for lower interest rates. But the widespread expectation is that the Fed will keep its main interest rate steady next week. If anything, traders see the Fed as more likely to raise rates at least once by the end of the year, according to data from CME Group.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.52% from 4.55% late Wednesday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose modestly in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.
London’s FTSE 100 rose 1%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7% for two of the world’s bigger moves.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
