Wall Street Hovers Near Records as AMD Rockets on AI Hype

AP, CNBC, and Investor’s Business Daily contributed to this report.

Stocks were mostly treading water Wednesday while the AI trade stole the show. By late morning, the S&P 500 was off about 0.1% and still parked near its all-time high from a couple of weeks ago. The Dow was the outlier, up roughly 0.6% (about 300 points) after setting a fresh record Tuesday, while the Nasdaq slipped around 0.5%.

Advanced Micro Devices grabbed the spotlight. Shares jumped about 9.6% after CEO Lisa Su told investors to expect better than 35% compound annual revenue growth over the next three to five years, crediting a fast-thickening pipeline tied to artificial intelligence. The surge came as investors keep debating whether the AI winners can stretch their already monster gains without replaying a dot-com-era hangover. Nvidia, which has more than doubled in four of the past five years, see-sawed between green and red and at times weighed on the broader market.

It wasn’t all chips. IBM rose roughly 2.3% on fresh talk of real-world progress in quantum computing. Swiss sneaker maker On Holdings vaulted more than 20% after smashing profit expectations. Not every beat bought love, though: Circle Internet Group sank about 10% despite topping estimates; its stock has been sliding since flirting with $300 in June and now trades below $90.

Lower yields offered a little valuation relief. The 10-year Treasury dipped to about 4.06% from 4.13% on Monday as trading resumed after Veterans Day. Futures markets still see nearly two-in-three odds the Federal Reserve cuts rates at its December meeting, even as Chair Jerome Powell warns a third cut isn’t a lock with inflation still sticky. The central bank’s visibility remains hazy while the government shutdown has delayed key economic reports, though lawmakers appear close to flipping the lights back on.

Overseas markets leaned risk-on: major indexes in Europe and Asia advanced, with France’s CAC 40 up about 1.2% and South Korea’s Kospi up roughly 1.1%.

Under the surface, the market is still split. Financials helped power the Dow as investors rotated toward names tied to an eventual economic thaw, while the Nasdaq’s megacap tech cohort stayed choppy. For now, record territory is holding — just with a lot more noise coming from anything stamped “AI.”