Dow jumps more than 100 points on easing banking fears

With a gain of 0.57%, the S&P 500 finished at 4,050.83. The broad market index reached its highest point since March 7 throughout the day. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.73% to close at 12,013.47 as investor interest in tech equities remained high. To close at 32,859.03, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 141.43 points, or 0.43%.

After peaking at 30 in the middle of March, Wall Street’s favourite indicator of how choppy the S&P 500 will be over the next 30 days dropped to the 19 mark. Wall Street’s Fear Index is back to where it was when the month began.

Hopes that the Federal Reserve would scale back its tightening effort because the jobs market is cooling heightened as weekly jobless claims rose by 7,000 to 198,000.

Among the top performers on the market were chip stocks like AMD. On Thursday, the VanEck Vector Semiconductor ETF increased by 1.4%, bringing its yearly return to more than 28%. Apple and Amazon shares increased as well, in the IT sector.

The Nasdaq Composite is up more than 4% for the month. The S&P 500 has gained 2% as investors shook off the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and yet another rate increase from the Fed.

Some investors think the market might be moving too quickly. Collectively, financial markets are pricing in a recession that permits low interest rates and sharply lowers inflation, but one that does not have a significantly negative impact on corporate earnings.