AI optimism is fueling tech stocks amid rising oil prices and bond yields – National

Strength for artificial-intelligence stocks is helping the U.S. market to hold firmer on Thursday, even as pressure from the bond market continues to rattle financial markets worldwide.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent and was on track to break a three-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 211 points, or 0.4 per cent , as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5 per cent higher.

Technology stocks helped lead the way after Micron Technology delivered a stronger profit report for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The maker of memory chips for computers also said growth is strengthening, and it gave forecasts for upcoming profit and revenue that topped analysts’ estimates.

CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said it’s benefiting from the AI boom, which is driving demand for memory.

Micron’s stock edged down by 0.1 per cent , which analysts attributed to how much its stock had already jumped before the profit report. It came into the day with a gain of more than 270 per cent for the year so far, towering over the less than 12 per cent rise for the overall S&P 500.

But other AI stocks benefited from Micron’s optimism about continued demand related to AI. Nvidia rose 0.6 per cent , and Alphabet climbed 1.5 per cent after Google released its latest AI model, Gemini 4 Argon.

The gains came despite more swings in the bond market, where fast-rising yields have been rattling financial markets worldwide.

The 10-year Treasury edged up to 5.30 per cent from 5.29 per cent late Wednesday. That’s near its highest level since 2002, but any kind of plateau would count as relief when the 10-year yield has been jumping from less than 5 per cent roughly a week ago and from less than four per cent before the war with Iran began.

High yields slow the overall economy by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money, while undercutting prices for stocks and other investments.

Yields are on the rise for a range of reasons, including worries about high inflation and oil prices, signals that the U.S. economy remains solid and Washington’s insistence to continue to spend much more money than it brings in.

Those worries don’t look to be going away anytime soon, and oil prices climbed again Thursday to keep the pressure up on inflation. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.9 per cent to US$99.88, continuing its swings on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global oil industry to return to normal.

Another report also signaled the U.S. economy is powering through its many challenges. Fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could mean fewer layoffs. That followed a report on Wednesday that said the U.S. economy’s overall growth was even stronger in the spring than earlier thought.

Canada’s main stock index, the Toronto Stock Exchange, dipped slightly at the open by about 0.1 per cent, as gains for some technology stocks were offset by losses concentrated in the financial and banking sector. Shares of Shopify were up 2.3 per cent, Blackberry’s stock gained 2.5 per cent and Constellation Software was up close to four per cent, while shares of some of Canada’s largest banks were down between roughly 0.75 and 1.5 per cent each.

In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.8 per cent after the 10-year U.K. government bond’s yield briefly jumped to 5.53 per cent before pulling back to 5.42 per cent . The CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.6 per cent following a similar, early-morning leap for the 10-year French government bond yield.

In Asia, stock indexes finished stronger thanks to optimism around AI following Micron’s profit report. Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.3 per cent , and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.9 per cent.

– with a file from Global News’ Ariel Rabinovitch

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