WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the rally seen in the previous session, stocks moved back to the downside in early trading on Thursday before regaining ground over the course of the day.
The major averages saw considerable volatility in the latter part of the session but finished in positive territory, with the Dow reaching a new record closing high.
The Dow advanced 276.31 points or 0.6 percent to 50,285.66, the S&P 500 rose 12.75 points or 0.2 percent to 7,445.72 and the Nasdaq inched up 22.74 points or 0.1 percent to 26,293.10.
The initial pullback on Wall Street came amid a substantial rebound by the price of crude oil, with U.S. crude oil futures surging as much as 4.5 percent after plummeting by 5.7 percent on Wednesday.
Crude oil futures jumped back above $100 a barrel as traders awaited developments on a potential U.S.-Iran peace deal.
Oil prices saw further upside after a report from Reuters said Iran's Supreme Leader has issued a directive that the country's near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad.
However, crude oil futures saw a substantial downturn after an X post from Al Jazeera reporter Ali Hashem said a senior Iranian official denied the reports, contributing to the recovery by stocks.
The official told Hashem 'no new order has been issued' and called the reports 'propaganda by the enemies of the deal.'
Meanwhile, traders seemed to shrug off the negative reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), although the AI leader still slumped by 1.8 percent.
The decrease by shares of Nvidia came even though the chipmaker reported better than expected first quarter results, as investors worry about the sustainability of its rapid growth.
'The chip giant is starting to sound like a broken record, playing the same message over and over again,' said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell. It effectively says AI demand is strong, lots of customers are queuing up for its chips, and there is still much more to go for.'
'The market's attention is now focused on how long Nvidia can sustain this momentum,' he added. 'Even the fastest or strongest athletes run out of steam at some point, and investors are starting to worry that Nvidia cannot keep up its current pace.'
Disappointing earnings news from Walmart (WMT) also generated some negative sentiment early in the session, with the retail giant plunging by 7.3 percent.
Sector News
Computer hardware stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, driving the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index up by 4.9 percent.
The rally by the sector came after a report from the Wall Street Journal said Trump administration is awarding $2 billion in grants to nine quantum-computing companies.
Substantial strength also emerged among airline stocks, as reflected by the 4.5 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
Networking, pharmaceutical and semiconductor stocks also showed strong moves to the upside, while energy stocks came under pressure amid the downturn by the price of crude oil.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index spiked by 3.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 2.0 percent.
The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index slid by 0.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries regained ground after an early slump but still closed modestly lower. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by 1.4 basis points to 4.586 percent after reaching a high of 4.635 percent.
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