S&P 500, Nasdaq gain on tech boost, Iran peace talk hopes
By Chuck Mikolajczak and Niket Nishant
NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbed to intraday records on Friday, buoyed by optimism for negotiations between the U.S. and Iran to end the war and a surge in Intel shares that extended the rally in semiconductor stocks.
Pakistani government sources said Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, was expected in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Friday to discuss proposals for restarting peace talks.
In addition, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News that President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will travel to Islamabad on Saturday morning for talks with Iran mediated by Pakistan.
Markets had rallied in recent weeks on hopes that a resolution to the Iran war was on the horizon, along with expectations of strong corporate earnings, but gains have been harder to come by this week as optimism for a peace deal dimmed as the Strait of Hormuz remained shuttered.
“The Iran thing feels kind of tenuous, we’ve had a lot of back and forth. I assume that will continue, but for now, some rays of sunlight,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 120.74 points, or 0.24%, to 49,190.10, the S&P 500 gained 53.33 points, or 0.75%, to 7,161.73 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 389.02 points, or 1.59%, to 24,827.12.
Semiconductors, one of the market’s strongest performers on the year, continued to rally. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index advanced 4.5% and was poised to extend its record run of gains to 18 consecutive sessions.
Intel hit a record high and was last up more than 22% as the best performer on the benchmark S&P index, following a better-than-expected revenue forecast for the second quarter.
“All the doubts and fears about the (return on investment) on the AI CapEx from the big tech companies – Amazon and Google and Microsoft and Meta – those concerns are fading real fast, and that’s propelling the chip stocks and the contractors and all the industrial companies,” said Ellerbroek.
Fellow chipmakers AMD and Arm also climbed over 14% each. Nvidia rose 5% and was on pace for a closing record as it drew closer to hitting the $5 trillion market valuation again.
The S&P 500 technology added 2.3% as the best-performing of the 11 major S&P sectors. Tech stocks also shrugged off DeepSeek’s preview of its highly awaited new model.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were on track for a fourth consecutive week of gains, their longest streak since the fourth quarter of 2024. The Dow, however, was on pace to snap a three-week run of gains.
FED MEETING AWAITED
Attention is also shifting to the Federal Reserve meeting next week, which will be scrutinized for clues on rate cuts and the central bank’s leadership succession.
The U.S. Justice Department is closing its investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, clearing an obstacle to the confirmation of Kevin Warsh, Trump’s pick to lead the central bank.
Markets were pricing in a 37% chance for a cut of at least 25 basis points at the Fed’s December meeting, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool, up from about 23% in the prior session.
A strong start to earnings season has helped buttress stocks against volatile Iran news. Earnings growth expectations for the first quarter now stand at 16.1%, according to LSEG data, up from 14.1% at the start of April.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.41-to-1 ratio on both the NYSE and Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 33 new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 12 new highs and 78 new lows.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Addtional Reporting by Niket Nishant and Avinash P in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath, Maju Samuel and Matthew Lewis)