Nasdaq climbs as chip stocks rally, Intel jumps on strong AI demand

The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.52% to 26,935.52 in early trading Wednesday, led by chip stocks as Intel and AMD extended a rally that has semiconductor names on pace for their best month since June.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.09% to 51,398.39, and the S&P 500 gained 0.32% to 7,695.86.

The gains came even as Treasury yields hovered near multidecade highs, with the 30-year yield touching levels last seen in 2002.

The CBOE Volatility Index eased 1.25% to 15.84, and the small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.28%.

Chip stocks lead the market higher

Intel jumped 3.28% to $119.73, the session’s standout mover among large-cap tech names.

Nvidia rose 1.64% to $230.94.

Both AMD and Intel have been climbing through September on strength tied to AI infrastructure demand, pushing the sector toward its strongest monthly performance since June.

Micron added 0.74% to $1,073.01, while SanDisk was roughly flat, up 0.10% to $1,731.55.

Alphabet rose 1.86% to $347.27, extending gains from earlier in the week.

HPE surges on new AI order

Hewlett Packard Enterprise was the day’s biggest gainer among widely held names, up 6.20% to $65.31.

The stock surged after HPE announced a $1.2 billion order from Vultr, a large privately held cloud infrastructure company, for AMD Helios AI Rack systems to be deployed across Vultr’s US data centers.

It marks HPE’s first commercial order for the new platform.

The announcement came directly from HPE’s Networking Investor Day in Sunnyvale, California, where CEO Antonio Neri said that “AI is driving the largest infrastructure buildout in history.”

Moderna and Fair Isaac lead losers

Moderna tumbled 7.76% to $187.68 after Citi downgraded the stock to sell, with a price target roughly 60% below Tuesday’s closing price.

Fair Isaac fell 3.49% to $596.30, adding to a sharp decline from the prior session.

The shares plunged more than 20% after the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced changes to mortgage pricing that would introduce competition to FICO’s longstanding role in mortgage credit scoring.

Meta Platforms slipped 2.18% to $722.71, and Tesla fell 1.62% to $347.12.

Applied Materials eased 0.32% to $510.38, and Equifax declined 0.45% to $140.20.

Lumentum Holdings fell 1.87%.

What’s ahead

The August core PCE index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 3% year-over-year, well below estimates, while the headline figure came in at 3.4%.

Commerce Department data also showed stronger-than-expected consumer spending for the month, though income growth was lighter than forecast.

Markets lowered the probability of an October rate hike following the release, though traders still expect an increase in December.

Second-quarter GDP was also revised sharply higher, driven by stronger consumer and government spending along with higher private sales.

Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report will offer the next major read on labor market strength ahead of the Fed’s late-October meeting.

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