S&P500: Alphabet Jump Lifts US Indices as Broadcom and Micron Power Tech Stocks

AI Trade Reclaims the Driver’s Seat as Alphabet Lifts the Tape Into the Evening

 

At 18:00 GMT, the market is still holding onto its midday strength, with the AI trade doing most of the heavy lifting. The S&P 500 was up 1.58% heading into the close, the Nasdaq kept its 2.62% jump, and the Dow held a modest 0.62% gain. Traders treated it like a reset day — the kind you gratefully take in a choppy November — even if the rally leaned on the usual AI heavyweights.

Is Alphabet’s Surge Giving the Market Fresh Legs?

Alphabet remained the story of the session. The stock was up roughly 4% by the afternoon, fueled by enthusiasm around last week’s Gemini 3 rollout. That excitement spilled across the AI complex.

Broadcom ripped nearly 10%, Micron added more than 8%, and Palantir and AMD each put in strong 5% moves.

The mood was better, sure — but traders weren’t blind to the fact that this bounce was top-heavy. One giant pulling the rest higher isn’t usually the recipe for staying power, even if it buys the market some breathing room.

Which Sectors Actually Held the Gains?

Tech led from the opening bell and never really lost steam, finishing the midsession stretch up 2.5%. Communication services followed with a clean 3.6% rise, thanks to Alphabet.

Consumer discretionary logged a 2% pick-up, turbocharged by Tesla’s 7% bounce — a move traders were calling overdue after a rough few weeks. Health care, utilities, and industrials added steady but unremarkable gains.

Energy stayed underwater, down 0.28%, and consumer staples lagged hard, off 1.2% as names like Procter & Gamble and General Mills couldn’t catch a bid. So yes — the market was green, but it was the type of green that told you rotation wasn’t really happening.

Who Were the Standout Winners and Losers Today?

AI hardware and chip-linked names dominated the winners list: Broadcom, Western Digital, Micron, and Seagate all put up eye-catching moves. Centene, Tyson Foods, Lam Research, Palantir, Coinbase, Robinhood, and AppLovin rounded out the strong side of the tape.

On the losing end, Copart led the declines with a near-5% drop. Paramount Skydance, Procter & Gamble, Cigna, Campbell’s, Kroger, General Mills, Philip Morris, Verizon, and Starbucks all traded lower — familiar staples and telecom laggards in a risk-on session.

So What’s the Market Really Telling Us Into the Holiday Stretch?

Even with today’s rebound, traders aren’t calling it a meaningful turn. November is still a problem month: the S&P 500 is down more than 2%, the Nasdaq about 4%, and the Dow roughly 2%.

And with holiday liquidity thinning out fast, every data point hits harder. Retail sales and PPI land Tuesday — and anything that hints at a stagflation mix could rattle what confidence is left.

Bottom line: tech wants to lead again, but the rest of the market isn’t fully buying it yet. The next 48 hours will tell us whether today’s AI-powered bounce has real staying power.

More Information in our Economic Calendar.