S&P 500 Index Surges Above 5,600 for Seventh Straight Day on Wall Street with Gains

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Stock Exchange’s breakneck rally extended to a seventh day Wednesday, sending the U.S. stock market to new all-time highs.

The S&P 500 rose 1% to top 5,600 for the first time. The Nasdaq also posted its seventh straight gain and added 1.2% to its all-time high set the previous day. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 429 points, or 1.1%.

Big tech companies performed well in the market, as has become the norm on Wall Street, with U.S. shares of Taiwan Semiconductor rising 3.5% after the company reported profit rose about 33% in June from a year earlier.

Taiwan Semiconductor, or TSMC, makes chips for Nvidia and other companies fueling the business world’s craze for artificial intelligence. The promise of big future profits from artificial intelligence has driven Nvidia, in particular, to impressive levels in the past year. Nvidia shares rose another 2.7% on Wednesday, giving its year-to-date gains of 172.5%. Once again, it was the single biggest force pushing the S&P 500 higher.

Advanced Micro Devices was another driver of market growth, rising 3.9% after announcing a $665 million agreement to buy Silo AI, a European artificial intelligence lab.

The frenzy over artificial intelligence has been a major reason why the U.S. stock market has risen to a record high, despite a slowing economy and mounting pressure on low-income housing. It has also raised hopes that inflation will slow enough for the Federal Reserve to deliver long-awaited interest rate cuts later this year.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.28% from 4.30% on Tuesday after registering 4.70% in April. The move since the spring is significant for the bond market and has supported stock prices.

The report, due out Thursday, could cause more dramatic swings in bond and stock markets. It comes as the U.S. government releases its latest monthly inflation report. Economists forecast that U.S. consumers paid 3.1% more for groceries, airline tickets and everything else in June than they did a year earlier, down slightly from 3.3% in May.

Overall, the S&P 500 rose 56.93 points to 5,663.91. The Nasdaq rose 218.16 points to 18,647.45 and the Dow rose 429.39 points to 39,721.36.

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Associated Press writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.