Wall Street stocks opened higher Wednesday after a string of well-received earnings reports, with SpaceX’s first profit reassuring investors about the financial outlook for the artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem.
In early trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.34%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.67% and the broad-based S&P 500 added 0.31%.
“We have a market where a lot of the negative factors that were holding the market down over the last few weeks are being alleviated,” Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments told AFP.
He pointed to easing bond yields and expectations that inflation is slowing, helped in part by cheaper agricultural commodities.
“Even gasoline prices have come down a lot over the last few weeks,” he said.
“That means that whole fear that the Fed is going to raise rates and choke the economy and the stock market is going away.”
AI and rocket giant SpaceX was in demand at the open, a day after posting quarterly results seen as encouraging, including a first profit of US$4.4 billion.
In early trading, Elon Musk’s company rose 8.36% to US$160.15. The stock nonetheless remains well below the highs of around US$225 it reached in June.
“SpaceX is definitely a good sign because a big piece of their business right now is AI related and it is growing very fast,” Sarhan said.
“So we’re starting to get a relief rally in a lot of these AI stocks that were just… beaten down a lot.”
