Finance, Chip Companies Lead Wall Street Higher

Stocks steadied on Wall Street on Thursday.

• The S&P 500 rose 17.87 points, or 0.3%, to 6,944.47, breaking a two-day losing streak and edging back toward the all-time high it set on Monday.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 292.81 points, or 0.6%, to 49,442.44.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 58.27 points, or 0.2%, to 23,530.02.

Nvidia and other formerly high-flying tech stocks helped lift the market after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a major supplier to the industry, reported strong profits and investment plans, the AP reports. Also helping to calm the market were oil prices, which eased sharply on hopes for calming tensions in Iran.

TSMC also said it could boost its investment in equipment to $56 billion this year to take advantage of the AI boom. Nvidia was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 Wednesday after sinking 1.4%. But it rose 2.1% after TSMC Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said it's seeing "continued strong demand" in an encouraging signal for the entire AI industry. TSMC is a crucial player as a major supplier for Nvidia and other giants and as a key customer for ASML and other providers. TSMC's stock that trades in the US rose 4.4%, while ASML's US-listed stock rallied 5.4%. Other chip-related companies helped lead the US stock market, including gains of 7.7% for KLA Corp. and 5.7% for Applied Materials.

A barrel of benchmark US crude sank 4.6% to $59.19, while Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 4.1% to settle at $63.76 per barrel. Analysts pointed to comments from President Trump, who said Wednesday afternoon that he heard "on good authority" that plans for executions in Iran have stopped amid widespread protests against the country's leadership. Financial markets took that as a signal that tensions flaring above some of the world's largest oil deposits could ease and lower the possibility of a disruption to the flow of oil. Gold's price edged back 0.3% in another signal of potentially calming nerves across financial markets.

Earnings reporting season for big US companies continued to pick up pace, meanwhile, with several more big financial companies delivering their results for the last three months of 2025.

• BlackRock, the giant that's now overseeing more than $14 trillion in investments, rose 5.9% after reporting stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected.
• Morgan Stanley climbed 5.8% after likewise delivering stronger profit and revenue than expected.
• Goldman Sachs rose 4.6% after the investment bank topped analysts' forecasts for profit but fell short on revenue.
• Outside of earnings, Boston Scientific fell 4% after announcing it's buying Penumbra, whose products help remove blood clots, in a cash and stock deal valued at roughly $14.5 billion. Penumbra's stock jumped 11.8%.