Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City.
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Stocks climbed Thursday, rebounding from back-to-back losses as chip and banks stocks rallied.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 401 points, or 0.8%, boosted by gains in Goldman Sachs and Nvidia. The S&P 500 jumped 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.9%.
Chip plays led the market after Taiwan Semiconductor delivered another record quarter, saying it expects to boost capital spending in 2026 to between $52 billion and $56 billion — an outlook signaling confidence in the artificial intelligence buildout from the world’s largest contract chipmaker. The stock jumped more than 6%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbed 3%, with Nvidia and Micron Technology adding more than 2% each.
“Taiwan Semi’s results today, and more importantly, their capex spending plans point to reassuring investors that the AI trade is not necessarily a bubble at this point,” said Kim Forrest, investment chief at Bokeh Capital Partners. “They’re going to spend money, lots of money, to build out capacity.”
Bank stocks rose following the latest raft of quarterly earnings. Goldman Sachs advanced 4% after its fourth-quarter profit topped Wall Street estimates. Morgan Stanley jumped nearly 6% after its wealth management unit contributed to top and bottom line beats in the fourth quarter. Both stocks touched fresh 52-week highs.
A pullback in oil prices was also supportive of the market, with Brent crude oil futures and front-end West Texas Intermediate crude both sliding more than 4%.
The latest economic data also pointed to a solid jobs market. Jobless claims data for the week ending Jan. 10 came in at 198,000, lower than the 215,000 expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.
Thursday’s comeback comes on the heels of two straight losing sessions on Wall Street, after a spate of political headlines — concerning heightened risks in Iran and Greenland, and the future of Federal Reserve independence — weighed on investor sentiment.
Nvidia came under pressure earlier this week after a Reuters report, citing individuals briefed on the matter, said Chinese customs authorities advised customs agents this week that the company’s H200 chips are not allowed to enter the country. The chipmaker has since rebounded.
