NextFin News - U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak, as Treasury yields took a brief pause from their recent surge even after touching a fresh multi-year high during the session. The rally was powered by a sharp rebound in AI-linked hardware names, led by Dell Technologies' blowout earnings and a nearly 5% jump in Nvidia on reports it is nearing an acquisition of Hugging Face, offsetting continued concern about elevated bond yields and the inflationary impact of the ongoing Iran conflict. The Federal Reserve's Beige Book, released Wednesday, described the economy as growing "modestly" while flagging rising concern about the Iran war's impact on prices.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.56%
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.46%
The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.45%
Stock & Sector Performance
Technology and financials led the rebound, marking a sharp reversal from recent sessions. Dell Technologies soared as much as 10% after beating fiscal second-quarter earnings estimates and raising its full-year revenue guidance, while Wells Fargo surged 3% and Meta Platforms jumped 2.5% as banks and heavyweight tech names benefited from a pause in the bond-yield climb that had recently pressured credit-sensitive sectors. Within the Dow, Johnson & Johnson led gainers with a 3.35% advance, followed by Merck at 1.57% and Amgen at 1.37%; the 30-stock index was specifically boosted by gains in Nvidia and Johnson & Johnson. On the downside, Microsoft fell 1.07%, Alphabet declined 0.96%, and IBM slipped 0.82%. Palo Alto Networks was the session's most notable laggard outside the Dow, sinking about 7% despite beating earnings estimates, as investors focused on slowing growth metrics and margin pressure rather than the headline beat.
Magnificent Seven trading was led by Nvidia, which jumped nearly 5% on reports it is approaching an acquisition of Hugging Face for roughly $14 billion. Meta Platforms added 2.5%, while Microsoft fell 1.07% and Alphabet declined 0.96%. Reliable closing figures for Apple, Amazon, and Tesla were not available in today's reporting at publication time. The 10-year Treasury yield touched an intraday high of 4.818% — its highest level since November 2023 — before easing slightly into the close, providing the pause in rate pressure that helped underpin the broader rally.
After the Bell: Broadcom Extends Its Beat Streak
Broadcom capped the day with fiscal third-quarter results that extended the company's streak of earnings beats to nine consecutive quarters. The company reported revenue of $29.6 billion, up 86% year-over-year and ahead of the roughly $29.4 billion Wall Street consensus, with GAAP diluted earnings per share of $2.68, up 215%, and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $3.32 versus a $3.24 estimate. AI semiconductor revenue reached $16.7 billion, up 221% year-over-year and 54% sequentially, pushing Semiconductor Solutions to 70% of total company revenue. Free cash flow rose 95% to $13.665 billion, equal to 46% of revenue. For the fiscal fourth quarter, Broadcom guided to revenue of approximately $34.8 billion, up 93% year-over-year, with AI semiconductor revenue expected to reach $21.7 billion, up 236% year-over-year, and a non-GAAP operating margin of about 66%. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share and separately unveiled new VMware-based private AI cloud platforms ahead of the earnings release, signaling an effort to broaden its AI revenue base beyond hyperscale custom-chip contracts. The report is widely viewed as one of the clearest available reads on hyperscaler AI infrastructure spending, given Broadcom's role supplying custom AI accelerators and networking chips to major cloud providers, and will likely set the tone for how investors approach the broader data-center trade — including Nvidia and Arista Networks — heading into the rest of the quarter.
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