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CHIP INDEX HITS RECORD HIGH AS LAGGARDS RALLY
Wall Street's chip index is surging to a record high on Thursday, lifted by market laggard Texas Instruments TXN.O and buoyed by optimism that the Fed sees borrowing rates falling year.
The PHLX semiconductor index .SOX soared as much as 3.1% to an all-time high. It is last up 2.4%.
Reflecting a broadening of the recent rally in chip stocks, Texas Instruments is jumping 3% and is among the top contributor's to the SOX's gain. Hurt by weak demand in key industrial markets, Texas Instruments is about flat on a year-to-date basis.
Nvidia NVDA.O, the star of the U.S. stock market this year, is added just 0.3%. The world's most valuable chipmaker has more than tripled in 2023.
Gains in some of the SOX's weaker recent performers on Thursday accompanied rallies across several sectors of the U.S. stock market that have trailed technology this year, all lifted by the central bank's dovish pivot on Wednesday.
Broadcom AVGO.O is rising 2.8%, hitting its own record high, and extending its gain this month to over 20%. BofA Global Research raised its price target on Broadcom on Wednesday and reiterated its "buy" rating, pointing to cost synergies from its acquisition of VMWare.
Intel INTC.O is up 2.7%, bringing its gain in 2023 to 73%.
With Thursday's record high, the SOX is up over 60% this year. An investor with the foresight to have bought the SOX at its closing low in October 2022 would be up 88%.
(Noel Randewich)
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FOR THURSDAY'S OTHER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:
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TODAY'S SECRET WORD IS "RESILIENT": RETAIL SALES, JOBLESS CLAIMS, ETC - CLICK HERE
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BENCHMARK TREASURY YIELD BREAKS BACK BELOW 4% - CLICK HERE
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(Terence Gabriel is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)