The three major indexes on Wall Street ended higher. Gains continued led by semiconductor stocks as Taiwan's TSMC set record earnings, but the main indexes quickly gave back gains in the afternoon.
On the 15th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 49,442.44, up 292.81 points, or 0.60%. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 closed at 6,944.47, up 17.87 points, or 0.26%, from the previous transaction day, and the Nasdaq rose 58.27 points, or 0.25%, to 23,530.02.
On the day, TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry, recorded its best-ever results last year on strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips and projected this year's sales would rise about 30% from a year earlier. The company released plans to raise this year's capital expenditure to between $52 billion and $56 billion, adding fuel to AI optimism.
AI and semiconductor-related stocks rallied across the board. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 1.76%, and Nvidia rose more than 2%. TSMC, ASML, Lam Research, and Applied Materials climbed around 5%.
Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners, said, "TSMC's results and capital expenditure plans were able to reassure investors that the AI industry is not currently a bubble."
However, in the afternoon the main indexes gave back gains, and tech stocks turned lower after news that the United States and Taiwan had reached a deal on a reciprocal tariff agreement. It was seen as fallout from Taiwanese semiconductor corporations pledging $250 billion in investments in the United States.
Semiconductor stocks were strong, but tech overall was not. Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Tesla were slightly lower to flat, while Amazon, Broadcom, and Meta were slightly higher.
By sector, utilities rose more than 1%.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, Wall Street's leading investment banks, both surged around 5%. Strong fourth-quarter results last year that beat expectations buoyed the shares.
However, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo were little changed on concerns about a possible cap on credit card interest rates.
UnitedHealth Group, Caterpillar, Cisco Systems, and Boeing—traditional industrial names—showed solid gains of around 2%.