WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving notably lower in the previous session, the Dow has shown a substantial move back to the upside during trading on Thursday. The blue chip index has more than offset yesterday's slump, reaching a new record intraday high.
Currently, the Dow is just off its highs of the session, up 872.24 points or 1.7 percent at 51,559.31. The S&P 500 is also up 17.13 points or 0.2 percent at 7,570.81, while the Nasdaq is down 72.30 points or 0.3 percent at 26,781.68.
The rebound by the Dow comes amid a sharp increase by shares of UnitedHealth (UNH), with the health insurance giant surging by 5.3 percent.
UnitedHealth is rallying in reaction to upgrade by Bank of America, which raised its rating on the company's stock to Buy from Neutral.
Dow components American Express (AXP), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Merck (MRK) are also posting strong gains on the day.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq has climbed well off its worst levels but remains in negative territory amid weakness among technology stocks.
A steep drop by shares of Broadcom (AVGO) is weighing on the tech sector, as the chipmaker is plunging by 13.6 percent despite reporting fiscal second quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates.
Traders are seemingly disappointed that Broadcom CEO Hock Tan failed to raise the company's full-year forecast of $100 billion in AI chip sales.
'Broadcom may have emerged as a key player in the booming AI infrastructure market, with a particular expertise in the custom chips increasingly being used by the likes of Alphabet and Meta,' said AJ Bell head of markets Dan Coatsworth.
He added, 'However, just like its rival Nvidia, Broadcom is finding that meeting and even slightly beating forecasts is not enough when the market is holding it to such a high standard.'
Sector News
With Broadcom leading the way lower, semiconductor stocks have shown a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 3 percent.
Considerable weakness is also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 2.8 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.
On the other hand, pharmaceutical stocks have moved sharply higher on the day, resulting in a 3.6 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index.
Banking, healthcare and biotechnology stocks are also seeing substantial strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.5 percent.
Meanwhile, most European stocks have moved to the upside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved higher, largely offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.8 basis points at 4.463 percent.
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