US STOCKS-Wall St advances as Iran deal optimism offsets hawkish Fed; Intel jumps

داو جونز الصناعي
إس آند بي 500
ناسداك
مؤشر أشباه الموصلات PHLX

Dow Jones Industrial Average

DJI

0.00

S&P 500 index

SPX

0.00

NASDAQ

IXIC

0.00

PHLX Semiconductor

SOX

0.00

Indexes up: Dow 0.36%, S&P 500 0.91%, Nasdaq 1.25%

Intel up after Trump says co to partner with Apple on chip design

Accenture tumbles on trimming top-end of its FY revenue forecast

Data showed weekly jobless claims fell amid low layoffs

Updates to late morning prices

By Twesha Dikshit and Joel Jose

- U.S. stocks rebounded on Thursday with semiconductor shares leading gains as optimism about a Middle East peace deal offset worries about a hawkish Federal Reserve under new Chair Kevin Warsh.
Intel's INTC.O shares jumped nearly 8% to hit a record high after U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple AAPL.O had agreed to work with the company to design and manufacture its chips in the United States.

Other chip stocks also moved higher. Nvidia NVDA.O rose 2.3%, while Micron MU.O and Marvell Technology MRVL.O added over 8.4% and 12%, respectively.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX hit a record high and was last up 6.3%, while the S&P 500 tech index .SPLRCT rose 2.5%
All three major indexes sank in the previous session as investors priced in the likelihood of more Federal Reserve rate hikes, after Warsh underscored the need to curb inflation and other policymakers signaled higher borrowing costs ahead.

Meanwhile, the United States and Iran released the text of a signed interim agreement that extends the April ceasefire by another 60 days to allow the two sides to reach a final deal.
Oil prices slid almost 3% to their lowest since the first trading day of the Iran war, keeping alive hopes that inflation could be tamed without hiking interest rates.
"The signing of the initial agreement between the U.S. and Iran has provided some additional confidence," said Jim Baird, Chief Investment Officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors.

Oil prices being down "should provide some near-term relief, both in terms of inflation and might provide a little bit more cover for the Fed to continue to evaluate the current state of policy and at least push back the margins against the narrative that they will need to hike before the end of the year."
Markets are currently pricing in a 50% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike in September, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool, higher than 27% priced in on Wednesday.

Seven out of 11 major S&P 500 sectors moved higher with utilities .SPLRCU and industrials .SPLRCI gaining almost 1.3% each.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index .RUT rose 1.5%.
Shares of Accenture ACN.N tumbled almost 16.6% after the company trimmed the top end of its annual revenue forecast. Peers Cognizant Technology Solutions CTSH.O and IBM IBM.N dropped 9.1% and 5.7%, respectively.
The S&P 500 software sector .SPLRCIS was dragged to a more than two-month low, shedding 1.5%.
At 11:23 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 184.68 points, or 0.36%, to 51,677.23, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 67.24 points, or 0.91%, to 7,487.34 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 324.76 points, or 1.25%, to 26,344.72.

Markets have regained ground from a slump in early June, with a resilient economy, a broadening rally beyond tech shares and optimism surrounding a U.S.-Iran deal boosting sentiment.

All three indexes were on track to end higher for a second consecutive week before Friday's Juneteenth holiday.

On the data front, Labor Department data showed the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week as layoffs remained low.
Thursday also marks the once-in-a-quarter simultaneous expiry of derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures, also known as "triple witching", which can boost trading volume and aggravate volatility.

Among other movers, Kroger KR.N dropped 6% after the grocer reported a lower-than-expected profit for the first quarter and kept its annual forecasts unchanged.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.77-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.57-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 24 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 90 new highs and 103 new lows.