By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer
U.S. stocks closed broadly higher Wednesday, extending Wall Street’s recent winning streak to a fourth straight day.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite added 0.8%.
Solid gains for technology companies led the rally, although the gains were widespread, with most of the sectors in the benchmark S&P 500 index finishing higher. Gainers also outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange.
U.S. markets have a shortened trading week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, closing on Thursday and opening for shorter hours on Friday.
The market’s recent rebound, fueled by investor hopes for another Federal Reserve interest rate cut in December, has helped erase most of the major indexes’ losses following a bout of selling earlier this month.
“It’s a tech-driven, buy-the-bounce kind of response to the very swift sell-off that we saw,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. “Investors are of the mind that this pullback has run its course and that it’s going to lead to a December dash to the finish line.”
Dell Technologies climbed 5.8% after saying it has received record orders for its artificial intelligence servers. Dell and other technology companies had fallen earlier in the month as investors worried the prices for their stocks had gotten too frothy amid the frenzy over AI. Nvidia, the market’s most valuable company, rose 1.4%.
Among other tech winners was Microsoft, which rose 1.8% and Broadcom, which added 3.3%.
Financial sector stocks also helped lift the market. Robinhood Markets jumped 10.9% for the biggest gain among S&P 500 companies after the trading platform said it plans to roll out a futures and derivatives exchange next year to expand its predictions market business.
Urban Outfitters joined a host of other retailers this week in reporting earnings that exceeded Wall Street forecasts, and its shares jumped 13.5%.
Petco surged 14.5% a day after the pet supply chain delivered mixed quarterly results but raised its fiscal year earnings outlook.
On the downside, shares of Deere dropped 5.7% after the farm equipment company issued a downbeat forecast, citing pressure from tariffs.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 3.99% and the yield on the 2-year Treasury rose to 3.48%.
Stocks have been rallying as comments from Federal Reserve officials have given traders more confidence the central bank will again cut interest rates at its meeting in December. Traders are betting on a nearly 83% probability that the Fed will cut next month, according to data from CME Group.
The central bank, which has already cut rates twice this year in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market, is facing an increasingly difficult decision on interest rates as inflation rises and the job market slows. Cutting interest rates further could help support the economy as employment weakens, but it could also fuel inflation. The latest round of corporate earnings reports was mostly positive, but economic data has been mixed.
Economic data released this week shows Americans bought less from U.S. retailers in September than economists expected and are growing more anxious about the economy. The Fed and Wall Street are also playing catch-up with government reports on the economy suspended during the government shutdown.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 46.73 points to 6,812.61. The Dow gained 314.67 points to 47,427.12, and the Nasdaq added 189.10 points to close at 23,214.69.
In international markets, shares in Europe and Asia advanced. Germany’s DAX gained 1.1% while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.9%. In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.9% in a broad rally that encompassed major exporters and technology shares.
