Dow Jumps To New Record Intraday High But Nasdaq Pulls Back Sharply

(RTTNews) - After closing higher on Wednesday following the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, the major U.S. stock indexes have moved in starkly opposite directions during trading on Thursday.

While the Dow has surged to a new record intraday high, the tech-heavy Nasdaq has shown a significant move back to the downside.

Currently, the Dow is up 471.06 points or 1.0 percent at 48,528.81, but the S&P 500 is down 20.25 points or 0.3 percent at 6,866.43 and the Nasdaq is down 224.54 points or 1.0 percent at 23,429.61.

The advance by the Dow partly reflects a sharp increase by shares of Visa (V), with the payment card services company surging by 3.4 percent after Truist named the stock among its favorite names for 2026.

Strong gains by Home Depot (HD), 3M Co. (MMM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) are also contributing to the jump by the blue chip index.

Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of Oracle (ORCL) is weighing on the Nasdaq, as the software giant is plunging by 13.9 percent.

The slump by Oracle comes after the company reported fiscal second quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates but weaker than expected revenues.

Other AI-related stocks like Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are also seeing notable weakness, potentially reflecting renewed valuation concerns.

Uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates may also be generating some selling pressure following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed cut rates by another quarter point, as widely expected, officials' projections showed significant differences of opinion about further rate cuts.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by more than expected in the week ended December 6th.

The report said initial jobless claims rose to 236,000, an increase of 44,000 from the previous week's revised level of 192,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to climb to 220,000 from the 191,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Sector News

Semiconductor stocks have shown a significant move to the downside on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tumbling by 2.3 percent after ending Wednesday's trading at a record closing high.

Considerable weakness is also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

On the other hand, gold stocks have moved sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.7 percent to a record intraday high.

Pharmaceutical, housing and healthcare stocks are also seeing notable strength, partly offsetting the weakness in the tech sector.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.6 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the upward move seen over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.4 basis points at 4.120 percent.