After getting knocked around for three days, Wall Street decided it was time to get back up on Thursday morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) climbed 0.7% by noon, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) added 0.4%
The Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) was up 0.6%, though it had been running as high as 1.3% earlier before losing some steam. A brief scare around 11 a.m., when a false hazmat alarm triggered a Pentagon lockdown, sent all three indexes into a brief dip toward flat for a few minutes. The all-clear came quickly, and so did the buyers.
Behind Thursday’s modest bounce Semiconductor stocks led the morning rally after entering correction territory earlier this week. Chip equipment makers posted particularly strong gains, with Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) up 8.4% and Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) rising 3.6%. Analysts have been raising price targets and talking up AI-driven demand.