[New York Stock Market Briefing] "AI Rally Continues" Rise on Foxconn's Strong Performance... NVIDIA Hits Record High

On the 5th (local time), Gary Gensler, SEC Commissioner, is broadcasting before ringing the 'Opening Bell' at the New York Stock Exchange./New York=Kim Beom-jun Reporter

The AI-themed rally continued on the New York Stock Exchange, with the Nasdaq Composite and Standard & Poor's 500 indexes rising. Notably, NVIDIA surpassed $149, setting a new all-time high. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed slightly lower.

On the 6th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones fell by 25.57 points (0.06%) to 42,706.56, the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose by 32.91 points (0.55%) to 5,975.38, and the Nasdaq Composite rose by 243.30 points (1.24%) to 19,864.98.

Blue-chip stocks were sluggish, but tech stocks showed strength. Foxconn reported record earnings, attributing it to "strong demand for AI servers." Foxconn's Q4 sales last year were 2.13 trillion Taiwanese dollars, significantly exceeding consensus (average securities firm estimates).

As a result, all seven major tech companies, known as the 'Magnificent 7' (M7), rose, and AI and semiconductor-related stocks also increased. In particular, NVIDIA rose 3.43% to close at $149.43, surpassing the previous all-time high of $148.88 set on November 7 last year.

Memory semiconductor company Micron Technology soared 10.45%. Additionally, TSMC rose by over 5%, ASML by over 7%, and AMD, ARM, and Applied Materials showed gains of around 4%. Broadcom, emerging as a competitor to NVIDIA, also rose 1.67%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also surged by more than 3%.

By sector, technology rose 1.44%, and communication services surged 2.13%. In contrast, utilities and real estate fell by more than 1%.

The December U.S. Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) final reading released by S&P Global reached 56.8, the highest in 33 months, positively impacting market sentiment.

In this atmosphere, comments from a U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) official suggesting a slowdown in the pace of interest rate cuts did not have a significant impact. Fed Governor Lisa Cook said in a public statement that "there will be additional rate cuts at the appropriate time, but given the current strong labor market and signs of re-heating inflation, it is reasonable for the Fed to gradually lower rates further this year."

According to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) FedWatch Tool, the probability of the federal funds rate remaining unchanged in January rose to 93.1% by the close.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index (VIX) fell by 0.09 points (0.56%) to 16.04.

Hankyung Hankyung.com Reporter case@hankyung.com