Wall Street climbs as tech gains offset higher oil prices and easing bond yields

U.S. equity markets posted gains on Thursday, with the S&P 500 up 1.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite rising 1.4% as of midday. The advance followed three days of declines and was driven by strong performance in large-cap technology and communication-services firms. Microsoft climbed 3.1%, Apple rose 1.5% and Meta increased 3.5%.

Chip maker Nvidia gained 1.5% after announcing a $13 billion acquisition of the artificial-intelligence platform Hugging Face. Snowflake surged 21.7% after reporting quarterly profit and revenue that beat analysts’ forecasts, citing continued AI-driven demand. Broadcom and Hewlett Packard Enterprise both posted earnings beats but saw their shares fall on concerns about revenue outlooks and supply constraints.

Oil prices continued to rise as hostilities between the United States and Iran intensified. Brent crude edged up 0.1% to $95.75 a barrel and U.S. benchmark crude rose 0.5% to $91.51, reflecting the latest exchange of fire after Iran struck Kuwait in retaliation for earlier U.S. strikes.

Bond yields showed modest easing, with the 10-year Treasury yield slipping to 4.75% from 4.79% and the 2-year yield falling to 4.33% from 4.39%, after a period of upward pressure earlier in the year.

In other corporate news, Tyson Foods fell 6.8% after cutting its fiscal-year revenue and earnings guidance amid a cattle-price squeeze, while Victoria’s Secret dropped 13.7% despite beating earnings estimates because revenue fell short of expectations.

The Labor Department reported a rise in unemployment benefit filings, though overall jobless claims remain low. The upcoming August inflation report and the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later this month are expected to shape market expectations for interest-rate moves before year-end.