A violent rotation tore through Wall Street at midday Thursday as blue-chip industrials and healthcare drove the Dow above 49,500 points, masking a selloff in mega-cap tech after Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) rattled investors with the scale of their AI capital spending plans.
The Nasdaq 100 went nowhere, the S&P 500 eked out a small gain, and the Russell 2000 quietly rallied 1.4% as small-caps caught a bid.
President Donald Trump kept the Iran story front and center, saying that European leaders should stop “interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat” and doubling down on the U.S. naval blockade that has left Tehran’s energy exports collapsing. The standoff continued to bite physical oil flows.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rocketed 731 points or 1.5% to 49,593 — pushed there by Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) jumping 10% on a sharp earnings beat and financials.
Within Magnificent Seven stocks, the dispersion was extreme. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) surged 6.5% to $372.85 on what management framed as a wave of enterprise AI client wins, while Meta Platforms Inc. cratered 9.1% to $608.08 after telegraphing another step-up in AI capex that investors fear is racing ahead of monetization.
Microsoft Corp. dropped 5% to $403.45 despite meeting AI and cloud consensus, Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) fell 4.3% to $200.18 on the same capex skepticism, and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) slipped 1.8% after a strong AWS print failed to overcome the broader hyperscaler funk.
The SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD) tracked spot gold higher, with the metal climbing 1.5% to $4,615 per ounce as some haven demand flowed back as the dollar fell.
The 10-year yield fell 4 basis points to 4.40% after testing nine-month highs at 4.45% in the previous session. The 2-year slipped 7 basis points to 3.90% and the 30-year eased 2 basis points to 4.98%, even as a hot batch of macro data argued the other way:
Q1 GDP came in at a 2% annualized clip below expectations, core PCE prices – the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge – accelerated, and initial jobless claims plunged to their lowest level since 2022.
Thursday’s Performance In Major US Indices
| Index | Last | % Change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,169.69 | +0.5% |
| Dow Jones | 49,593.27 | +1.5% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 27,218.65 | +0.1% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,777.25 | +1.4% |
According to the Benzinga Pro platform:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 0.5%.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA) rallied 1.5%.
- The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) ticked up 0.1%.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) climbed 1.4%.
Industrials Charge Higher As AI Capex Panic Hammers Hyperscalers
The session’s clearest winner was the Industrials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLI), powered by Caterpillar’s blowout earnings, alongside surges in Quanta Services Inc. (NYSE:PWR), EMCOR Group Inc. (NYSE:EME) and Comfort Systems USA Inc. (NYSE:FIX) — all data-center electrification beneficiaries riding the AI infrastructure wave even as the hyperscalers themselves were under fire.
The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) joined the leadership board on the back of Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY), which jumped 9.7% after a strong quarter led once again by its weight-loss drug franchise.
The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) lagged as the Microsoft and Nvidia drawdowns crushed the megacap weights, while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (BATS:IGV) was caught in the cross-fire alongside Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM), which fell 2.4%.
The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLC) was a tug-of-war between Alphabet’s surge and Meta’s plunge.
The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) was pressured by the slide in WTI to $104.
The day’s biggest single-stock story was QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), which surged 16.3% — the stock’s best day since April 2019 — after CEO Cristiano Amon told investors the company’s “new AI chip business will be material in 2027,” cementing the chipmaker’s pivot from handsets to data-center silicon.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) gave back ground as Nvidia and KLA Corporation weighed, partly offset by Qualcomm’s huge bid.
Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) ripped 14.1% as semiconductor capital-equipment names rode the same AI infrastructure tailwind.
Quanta Services jumped 12.9% as electrification and grid-build infrastructure names extended a multi-week melt-up driven by the AI power-demand narrative — also without a specific Quanta-level news catalyst in the tape today. Carrier Global Corp. (NYSE:CARR) rose 10.3% on what looked like a quarterly print well-received by the data-center cooling thesis, with no broadly disseminated alternative catalyst. Caterpillar’s 10.1% surge was the cleanest of the bunch, with the company posting better-than-expected earnings that shattered fears of a heavy-equipment downturn.
On the other side of the ledger, Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Co. (NASDAQ:WTW) plunged 12.7% in what appears to be a poorly-received quarterly result, with insurance broker peers Aon plc (NYSE:AON) and Brown & Brown Inc. (NYSE:BRO) falling in sympathy.
International Paper Co. (NYSE:IP) dropped 8% after a quarterly report that underwhelmed on margins, with packaging peer Smurfit Westrock down in sympathy. Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE:CAH) fell 6.6% on a soft print.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) will report results after the close.
Thursday’s Russell 1000 Top Gainers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| QUALCOMM Inc. | +16.27% |
| Teradyne Inc. | +14.11% |
| Quanta Services Inc. | +12.89% |
| Carrier Global Corp. | +10.30% |
| Caterpillar Inc. | +10.06% |
Thursday’s Russell 1000 Top Losers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Co. | -12.69% |
| Meta Platforms Inc. | -9.12% |
| International Paper Co. | -8.04% |
| Cardinal Health Inc. | -6.63% |
| Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO) | -6.20% |
Image: Shutterstock
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