S&P 500 Hits Two year Record High

The S&P 500 reached an intra-day record high on Jan 19 for the first time in two years, boosted by gains in chipmakers and heavyweight technology stocks amid optimism about artificial intelligence (AI). Erasing the last of a nearly 25% selloff that began in 2022, the widely followed U.S. stock market benchmark was last up 0.9% at 4,823.34 points, surpassing its previous intra-day high of 4818.62 points on January 4, 2022.

Chipmakers, including Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, rallied to record highs after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing projected 2024 revenue growth of more than 20 per cent on booming demand for high-end chips used in AI applications. After surging about 24 per cent in 2023, the S&P 500 has been nearly flat so far in 2024 as investors scaled back bets on how aggressively the Federal Reserve will cut U.S. interest rates this year.

Still, investor optimism about resilience in the U.S. economy and potential accretions from AI has buoyed markets. The S&P 500 has not yet set a new record high close. Its highest ever closing was 4,796.56 points on Jan. 3, 2022. The Nasdaq is also flat this year after a 43 per cent jump in 2023. It remains down less than 6 per cent from its record high of 16,212.229 points.