On Thursday, the New York Stock Exchange experienced a broad rise, marking the second consecutive day of gains.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. reached a trade agreement with the UK, boosting investor sentiment.
Investors expected that the U.S.-UK trade agreement would serve as a catalyst for future trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries, including China.
Meanwhile, D-Wave reported better-than-expected quarterly results, causing quantum computing stocks to soar by over 50%.
Two Days of Gains
The New York Stock Exchange rose for two consecutive days.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 254.48 points (0.62%) to close at 41,368.45. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose by 32.66 points (0.58%) to finish at 5,663.94.
The Nasdaq jumped by 189.98 points (1.07%) to reach 17,928.14.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index (VIX), known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell by 1.07 points (4.54%) to 22.48.
Boeing Soars
The trade agreement between the U.S. and the UK particularly benefited Boeing.
With about half of its revenue depending on international markets, this agreement offered a potential breakthrough for Boeing to resolve the significant challenges posed by Trump’s tariffs and trade wars.
Boeing had been suffering serious setbacks in China, the fastest-growing aircraft market, due to the tariff conflict.
Reports indicated that Chinese authorities instructed airlines to halt purchases of U.S.-made aircraft, leading to a series of refusals to accept Boeing deliveries.
Even without interference from Chinese authorities, Boeing had already lost significant competitiveness. Importing Boeing aircraft into China faced high tariffs, reportedly in the late 100% range.
The U.S.-UK trade agreement is expected to revitalize Boeing’s exports to China and pave the way for a U.S.-China trade agreement.
Boeing might also regain market share lost to the European aircraft consortium Airbus.
Fueled by these expectations, Boeing’s stock surged by 6.14 USD (3.31%) to close at 191.70 USD.
Quantum Computing Stocks Surge
Quantum computing stocks also skyrocketed.
D-Wave led the surge with its surprising earnings report.
D-Wave’s stock jumped by 3.53 USD (51.23%) to close at 10.42 USD. IonQ rose by 2.70 USD (9.27%) to 31.84 USD, while Rigetti climbed by 1.06 USD (11.46%) to 10.31 USD. Quantum Computing’s stock increased by 1.36 USD (19.21%) to 8.44 USD.
D-Wave reported that its first-quarter revenue, which ended on March 30, soared by 509% year-over-year to 15 million USD, with a loss of only 0.02 USD per share considering adjustments.
This performance significantly exceeded analysts’ expectations of 10.5 million USD in revenue and a loss of 0.04 USD per share.
Semiconductor Stocks Rise
Stocks in AI semiconductor companies, including Nvidia, continued to rise.
Following reports the previous afternoon, the Trump administration confirmed plans to lift export controls on AI semiconductors to China, sustaining the upward trend.
Nvidia’s stock increased by 0.31 USD (0.26%) to close at 117.37 USD, while AMD rose by 1.34 USD (1.34%) to finish at 101.70 USD.
Custom AI semiconductor firm Broadcom ended the day at 207.77 USD, up 2.96 USD (1.45%).
Alphabet Bounces Back
After plummeting 7.3% the previous day due to the impact of an Apple vice president’s testimony suggesting the search market dominance was weakening with the rise of AI, Alphabet managed to rebound.
While some warnings emerged that Google’s parent company, Alphabet, faced a turning point, most analysts argued that the market’s reaction on Wednesday was excessive, noting that Alphabet’s AI search capabilities remain robust.
Alphabet closed up 2.95 USD (1.93%) at 155.75 USD.
Tesla rose by 8.60 USD (3.11%) to 284.82 USD, while Apple increased by 1.24 USD (0.63%) to close at 197.49 USD.
