WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After showing a lack of direction earlier in the session, stocks showed a substantial move to the upside in afternoon trading on Thursday. The major averages all moved sharply higher, rebounding from yesterday's weakness.
The major averages pulled back off their highs going into the end of the day but still posted strong gains. The Nasdaq surged 640.16 points or 2.5 percent to 25,809.66, the Dow shot up 929.97 points or 1.9 percent to 50,848.75 and the S&P 500 jumped 127.31 points or 1.8 percent to 7,394.30.
The late-day rally on Wall Street came as crude oil prices plunged after President Donald Trump called off previously announced attacks against Iran.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the decision was 'based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.'
The reversal came after said in early post that the U.S. would be hitting Iran 'very hard tonight' and claimed he plans to assume total control of their oil and gas markets 'at some point in the not too distant future.'
Bargain hunting also contributed to the surge following the weakness seen during yesterday's session, which dragged the Nasdaq and S&P 500 down to their lowest closing levels in a month.
Meanwhile, traders seemed to shrug off a report from the Labor Department showing producer prices increased by more than expected in the month of May.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand shot up by 1.1 percent in May, matching a downwardly revised jump in April.
Economists had expected producer prices to climb by 0.7 percent compared to the 1.4 percent surge originally reported for the previous month.
The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth accelerated to 6.5 percent in May from 5.7 percent in April, reaching the fastest rate of growth since November 2022.
Sector News
Semiconductor stocks helped lead the markets higher, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index spiking by 7.9 percent.
shares of Intel (INTC) soared by 9.2 percent after Bank of America upgraded its rating on the chipmaker's stock to Buy from Underperform.
The steep drop by the price of crude oil also contributed to substantial strength among airline stocks, resulting in a 7.5 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
Networking, gold and computer hardware stocks also saw significant strength, while energy and software stocks bucked the uptrend.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region ended mixed on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and South Korea's Kospi rose by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.2 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid by 0.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both climbed by 0.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved sharply higher over the course of the session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, tumbled 7.9 basis points to 4.463 percent.
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