Gains in big technology stocks and easing bond yields helped lift Wall Street on Thursday even as oil prices ticked higher amid an escalation in the U.S. war with Iran.
The S&P 500 was up 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 634 points, or 1.2%, as of 12:42 p.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.4%. The indexes are coming off their first gain after a three-day slide.
Gains in big technology and communication services stocks led the way higher. Their large market values tend to give them more influence over the broader market’s direction.
Microsoft rose 3.1%, Apple gained 1.5% and Meta climbed 3.5%.
Giant chip maker Nvidia, whose high-end chips have emerged as AI's best building blocks, rose 1.5% after saying it would buy the artificial intelligence platform Hugging Face for $13 billion.
Markets rose in Europe, but ended mixed in Asia.
Oil prices ticked higher as the six-month long U.S. war with Iran intensified.
Iran fired at Kuwait on Thursday in retaliation for U.S. bombardments earlier in the week. The fighting between the U.S. and Iran heated up after the U.S. hit Iranian rocket launchers Sunday on an island in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran was planning to use them to send mines into the waterway.
The renewed fighting has sent U.S. crude prices sharply higher this week, though the rate of increase slowed Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.1% to $95.75 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.5% to $91.51 a barrel.
Rising oil prices have added to existing inflationary pressures and exacerbated a bond-market sell-off earlier this week.
But bond yields have shown signs of stabilizing.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which tends to impact mortgage rates, dropped to 4.75% from 4.79% late Wednesday. It has been rising steadily throughout the year and was as low as 4.20% at the beginning of 2026.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which closely tracks expectations for Federal Reserve moves on interest rates, slid to 4.33% from 4.39%. It remains significantly higher for the year, though, and was as low as 3.50% at the beginning of 2026.
Traders had their eye on several companies following their latest quarterly snapshots.
Snowflake jumped 21.7% after its quarterly profit and revenue blew past analysts’ estimates. The company noted that artificial intelligence continues to be a strong driver for its business.
Other tech companies echoed the theme of strength in AI-related demand, but that wasn't enough to send their stocks higher.
Broadcom's results beat Wall Street’s estimates and the chipmaker forecast that its AI chip revenue would double in its fiscal year that ends in 2028. But its stock fell 3.7% after its revenue outlook fell short of expectations.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise also raised its guidance for cloud and AI demand strength as it reported quarterly results that topped analysts’ estimates. But the company’s shares slid 4.4% on worries about supply constraints and other concerns.
Elsewhere in the market, Tyson Foods fell 6.8% after the meat company lowered its guidance for revenue and operating income for its fiscal year, citing margin compression due to volatile cattle prices amid a severe U.S. cattle shortage.
And Victoria's Secret slumped 13.7% after its latest quarterly earnings beat Wall Street estimates, but its revenue fell short of expectations.
In economic news, the Labor Department reported Thursday that more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs are still rare and jobless claims remain at historically low levels.
On Friday, the crucial U.S. employment report for August is released. The previous report for July showed that the jobs market stalled, with employers cutting positions.
Both inflation and the jobs market have been key focuses for Wall Street and the Federal Reserve.
The Fed is trying to balance its tasks of supporting employment and taming inflation. Wall Street expects the central bank to raise interest rates before the year ends in an effort to cool inflation, which remains well above 3%. The Fed has a stated goal of cooling inflation to a target of 2%.
The government will release August inflation figures Sept. 11, shortly before the Fed's policymaking committee's next meeting.