Investing.com -- The S&P 500 rallied out of correction territory Thursday, led by strength in tech and fresh remarks from President Donald Trump that the U.S.-China had met this morning.
At 4:00 p.m. ET (21:00 GMT), the S&P 500 index rose 1.8%. The three-day rally pushed the benchmark stock index out of correction territory, which it entered last month after closing down more than 10% from its Feb. 19 closing high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 486 points, or 1.2%, while the NASDAQ Composite climbed 2.7%.
Nvidia and Amazon led tech rally
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) led the rally in tech after both companies touted strong demand for AI data centers, sending shares of the two tech giants up more than 3% each.
“There’s been really no significant change,” Kevin Miller, Amazon’s vice president of global data centers said. While Josh Parker, Nvidia’s senior director of corporate sustainability, said the chipmaker hasn’t "seen a pullback" in data center demand.
The remarks helped ease concern about the AI demand following recent announcement by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) that it was scaling back plans on investment into data centers.
Trump says US-China in talks on trade
Trump said the U.S. met China this morning, though the president stopped short of elaborating on the topics of discussion nor the personnell involved.
The update sowed further confusion on status of China-U.S. trade relations after Beijing denied any suggestion that it was in active talks with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over tariffs.
Just a day earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had stated that there was no unilateral offer from Trump to lower Chinese tariffs.
Data released earlier Thursday showed the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose in line with expectations last week, but remained largely range-bound despite ongoing worries over tariff-fueled economic uncertainty.
Seasonally-adjusted U.S. jobless claims climbed to 222,000 in the week ended on April 19, up from 216,000 in the prior week.
IBM , Southwest slump after quarterly results
Elsewhere, International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) stock slumped more than 6% after the tech company posted better-than-anticipated earnings and revenue for the first quarter, but maintained its full-year guidance.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) stock rose 3.7% even as the carrier said it plans to cut its schedule in the second half of this year and pulled its guidance for earnings before interest and taxes in 2025 and 2026.
Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) stock climbed more than 14% after the toymaker reported first-quarter revenue that beat expectations, helped by strength in its digital gaming segment.
Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) stock rose 1.6% after the Mexican food chain missed first-quarter revenue estimates with same-store sales declining for the first time since 2020. It also lowered the top end of its outlook for full-year same-store sales growth.
Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) stock soared 6.5% after the semiconductor manufacturer reported first quarter earnings that exceeded expectations and provided an optimistic outlook for the second quarter.
PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) stock fell more than 4% after the soft drinks giant cut its annual core profit forecast, as it grapples with disruptions to its supply chain.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)