NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes were muted in choppy trading on Friday as yields on government bonds ticked up, while an upbeat forecast from Broadcom kept alive the euphoria around artificial intelligence.
Broadcom forecast quarterly revenue above Wall Street estimates and predicted booming demand for its custom AI chips in the next few years, sending its shares up nearly 19%. This also helped the company cross a market capitalization of $1 trillion for the first time.
Chip stocks were mixed, with Broadcom rival Marvell Technology rising 8.4%, while AI bellwether Nvidia reversed gains and was last down 2.8%. Yet, a gauge for semiconductor stocks added 2.3%. Yields on US Treasuries rose across the board, with ones on the benchmark 10-year bond hitting a three-week high. It was last at 4.3770%.
“The market is just digesting going into year-end. It’s been a really good year with the large-cap equity markets .... we could see it trading just kind of sideways till the end of the year,” said Dustin Thackeray, chief investment officer at Crewe Advisors.
Technology stocks have rallied recently, propelling the Nasdaq above the 20,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday. An in-line inflation reading cementing a 25-basis-point cut from the Federal Reserve next week added to the momentum.
Trader bets on the cut at the central bank’s Dec. 17-18 meeting stand at near 97%, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool. However, they indicate chances of a pause in January.
“We have 25 bps baked in for next week, but the inflation data this week was a little bit of a mixed bag with the PPI numbers that came out. I would not be surprised at all if they start to set the table for a pause in January,” said Thackeray.
At 11:46 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 6.21 points, or 0.01%, to 43,920.33, the S&P 500 lost 5.33 points, or 0.09%, to 6,045.92 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 40.56 points, or 0.20%, to 19,862.28.
Wall Street had taken a breather in the previous session after recent gains and some hot economic data ahead of the Fed’s meeting, setting the benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow for weekly losses. However, the Nasdaq was on track to end the week higher. US stocks have climbed to all-time highs multiple times this year, as investors flocked to heavyweight tech stocks to capitalize on the hype around AI.
Another tailwind recently has been Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election as markets bet his business-friendly policies could enhance corporate profits.
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