A renewed wave of dip buying powered a rebound in U.S. equities on Thursday amid growing speculation that the stock market’s six-month rally still has more room to run.
The relentless appetite for stocks — which has already lifted the S&P 500 by more than 35% from its April lows — sent the benchmark index to new all-time highs, rekindling investor optimism that the bull market remains intact.
Momentum-driven traders continued to pile into equities following a series of record-breaking sessions fueled by corporate resilience, Federal Reserve rate cuts, and renewed enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence (AI).
“With price-to-earnings ratios for today’s tech giants still well below those of the tech firms at the peak of the dotcom bubble, we think the bull market remains intact,” said Mark Haefele, Chief Investment Officer at UBS Global Wealth Management.
At the close, the S&P 500 surged past 6,750, while the Nasdaq 100 climbed 1.2%. Nvidia Corp. led gains among megacap stocks after CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC that demand for its Blackwell AI chips is “really, really high.” Cisco Systems Inc. also rose as it intensified competition with Broadcom Inc. in the race to connect AI data centers.
A gauge of small-cap stocks added 1%, signaling broad-based investor confidence across market segments.
Analysts say that while valuation concerns persist, the ongoing strength of the U.S. economy, combined with AI-driven optimism, continues to provide powerful tailwinds for equities.
