The S&P 500 set a record intraday high Tuesday, pushing past 7,820 as chip stocks rallied and oil prices fell.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5% and also hit a record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 205 points, or 0.4%. It was the S&P 500’s fourth straight day of gains.
Marvell Technology surged 7%, while Nvidia and Broadcom each gained roughly 1%. Nvidia had already closed at a record Monday, putting the world’s most valuable company closer to the $6T mark.
Bond yields are at 2002 levels and stocks are climbing anyway
The 10-year Treasury yield slipped 2 basis points to 5.29%, a day after touching its highest level since April 2002. The 30-year yield hovered near 5.66%, while the 2-year eased 3 basis points to 4.802%.
Borrowing costs this high would normally weigh on equity valuations. But technology sector earnings per share are projected to jump more than 65% year over year in the third quarter, giving investors a reason to look past elevated yields.
Market concentration is helping too. Nvidia alone accounts for roughly 8.15% of the S&P 500 and 13.2% of the Nasdaq Composite.
A weak jobs report took an October hike off the table
Nonfarm payrolls rose just 29K in September, well below economists’ forecast of 90K. The previous two months were also revised sharply lower.
The unemployment rate climbed to 4.2% from 4.1% as more people entered the labor force. Traders cut the odds of a rate hike at the Fed’s Oct. 27-28 meeting to roughly 13%, down from 22% before the report and about 69% a week earlier.
Economists cautioned that some of the slowdown may be a calendar quirk, noting payrolls tend to underperform when Labor Day falls late in September. The Nasdaq jumped 1.66% to a record 27.3K when the data landed, while the S&P 500 gained 1.02% to 7,745.
Oil added another tailwind Tuesday. Brent crude fell more than 2% to below $98 a barrel as Middle Eastern exports held up and the G7 released emergency stockpiles.
Alphabet signed a 20-year power purchase deal valued at $4.3B with Constellation Energy, underscoring how much power the AI buildout requires.
The Fed’s September meeting minutes are due Wednesday, while third-quarter earnings season kicks off next week. Both will test whether profit growth can keep outrunning the cost of money.
