The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 875 points on Thursday, or more than 1.8%, to a fresh record high as investors moved money into healthcare and financial stocks. The S&P 500 added 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite was little changed after a shaky session for chip shares.
For traders searching djia today, the move offered a clear snapshot of where money was going: out of semiconductors and into cyclical and defensive names. Nvidia and Alphabet helped lift the blue-chip index, while the Nasdaq recovered from a 0.7% loss at the open to gain 0.2% in afternoon trading.
Broadcom was at the center of the debate. Its shares sank more than 12% after an AI chip forecast that failed to meet Wall Street’s high expectations, and the stock had fallen as much as 15% before trimming losses. That drop renewed pressure on semiconductors and raised fresh questions about the strength of the AI trade even as the Dow pressed to a record.
The shift came on a day when investors were already watching for signs of a softer economy. Weekly jobless claims ticked up to 225,000 for the week ending May 30, and layoff data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed job cuts also rose. Those figures gave the market another reason to favor the steadier parts of the tape, especially healthcare and financial stocks, while keeping attention on whether the rally could broaden beyond a few crowded winners.
Thursday’s record in the Dow also followed a stretch of crosscurrents that had already knocked stocks back from earlier highs, with renewed doubts over President Donald Trump’s ability to end the war with Iran adding to the unease. The blue-chip index still managed to outperform as money rotated away from the names that had led much of the recent surge.
The next test comes Friday with the May jobs report, which could either reinforce the case for defensive buying or send traders back toward the growth names that were under pressure. If semiconductors keep wobbling and Broadcom’s warning proves to be a signal rather than an outlier, the Dow’s record may look less like a broad advance than a brief escape from the AI trade.
