Nvidia shares soar as NASDAQ and S&P 500 close at all-time highs; Microsoft, Apple also log gains

Wall Street logged another day of massive gains, with two of the prime indices - S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite - closing at fresh record highs on Wednesday, July 10. Megacap stocks were the major market movers, with AI chipmaker Nvidia rising by 2.69%.

This was the sixth straight day of gain for S&P 500, which crossed 5,600-mark for the first time ever. For the tech-heavy NASDAQ, this was the seventh consecutive day of rally.

S&P 500 settled at 5,633.91, up 1.02% as against the previous day's close. NASDAQ closed 1.18% higher at 18,647.45. Year-to-date, S&P 500 is up 18% and NASDAQ has jumped 24%.

The surge in indices on Wednesday, say analysts, was linked to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's indication of an interest rate cut in the near-future.

Powell, during a Congressional testimony, said it cannot be concluded that inflation was sustainably moving towards 2% mark, but added that he has "some confidence of that".

Tech stocks lead the rally

Within the S&P 500 indices, the information technology index moved the sharpest with a 1.64% gain. The focus remains on semiconductor manufacturers, with the Philadelphia semiconductor index rising 2.4%.

Micron Technology logged the sharpest gain of 4%, whereas megacaps Microsoft Corp and Apple registered a jump of 1.46% and 1.88%, respectively.

The market capitalisation of Apple, which is the highest amongst all listed entities in the world, increased to $3.57 trillion. Microsoft's market cap, which is the second-highest, climbed to $3.47 trillion.