Major stock indexes on the New York stock market closed higher on the 19th. Strong results from Micron Technology largely quelled concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) stocks are overvalued.
On the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 48,134.89. It rose 0.38% (183.04 points) from the previous day.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500, focused on large caps, ended up 0.88% (59.74 points) at 6,834.5. The Nasdaq composite also jumped 1.31% (301.26 points) to close at 23,307.62.
Micron shares rose nearly 7% on the day. Shares of major semiconductor corporations including Nvidia, Broadcom, and AMD also climbed across the board. AI-related stocks had recently undergone a pullback on concerns about financing, but Micron presented a positive outlook for 2026 as well, improving investor sentiment.
Oracle, which had plunged amid difficulties financing data center investments, also rebounded. That's because TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd. decided to hand over its U.S. operations rights to a consortium that includes Oracle.
Hopes for the so-called "Santa rally" also revived. Since 1950, the S&P 500 has risen an average of 1.3% over the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of January.