Dow Soars 485 Points as Amazon Rally and Tech Gains Drive Markets Higher

Amazon's record surge lifted the Dow and fueled broad market gains, with strong performances in computer hardware, gold, and biotech stocks while traders awaited key U.S. economic data ahead of Friday's jobs report.

The Dow jumped 484.90 points (1%) to 49,462.08, the Nasdaq climbed 151.35 points (0.7%) to 23,547.17 and the S&P 500 rose 42.77 points (0.6%) to 6,944.82.

The Dow pushed higher on Tuesday, buoyed by a 3.4% surge in Amazon (AMZN) shares after the company hit a record closing high. The online retail giant gained momentum following news of its Alexa+ Early Access rollout, viewed as a direct challenge to ChatGPT and Googles Gemini. Additional strength from Amgen (AMGN), Salesforce (CRM), and IBM (IBM) also lifted the blue-chip index.

 

Broader market advances came despite the absence of major catalysts, with traders awaiting key U.S. economic data later this week. Attention now turns to reports on private sector employment, job openings, and service sector activity, culminating in Fridays closely watched jobs report. The results could shape expectations for future rate cuts, as the Federal Reserve is anticipated to hold rates steady at its January 2728 meeting.

Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the market's best performances, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index soaring by 4.3%. A sharp increase by the price of gold also contributed to substantial strength among gold stocks, as reflected by the 4.1% surge by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Biotechnology stocks saw considerable strength, resulting in a 3% jump by the NSYE Arca Biotechnology Index. Semiconductor, retail and healthcare stocks also showed notable moves to the upside, while significant weakness was visible among energy stocks amid a pullback by the price of crude oil.

Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index shot up by 1.3%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index surged by 1.5%. The major European markets also moved upwards while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.2%, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3% and the German DAX Index crept up by 0.1%.

In the bond market, treasuries gave back ground following the rebound seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, rose 1.6 bps to 4.18%.

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