Live Markets: S&P 500, Nasdaq advance with AI in charge

IREN

12/08/2026 21:45

Nasdaq adds 0.54%, S&P 500 rises 0.26%, Dow slips 0.04%
Real Estate, Technology lead S&P sector gainers; consumer discretionary is weakest group
Dollar, gold gain; U.S. crude, bitcoin slip 
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield edges up to ~4.69%
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S&P 500, NASDAQ ADVANCE WITH AI IN CHARGE
The S&P 500 .SPX and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite .IXIC finished higher on Wednesday as the AI trade appeared to be back on with a vengeance, at least for the day. 
For example, CoreWeave CRWV.O and Super Micro Computer SMCI.O rallied 19% each as both stocks took off at a sprint after their earnings reports and upbeat forecasts signaled booming demand for computing capacity to support AI.
Enthusiasm spread to other companies benefiting from the AI boom including Nebius Group NBIS.O, which vaulted 34%. Data center companies Applied Digital APLD.O and Iren IREN.O added 4.9% and 9.9% respectively while Dell Technologies DELL.N also added 9.9%.
Real estate .SPLRCR ended up being the top performer among the benchmark index's 11 major industry sectors, adding 1.08%. But, sticking with the AI theme, its biggest percentage gainers were in the data center business with Equinix EQIX.O and Digital Realty Trust DLR.N both adding more than 3%. 
The S&P 500 technology sector's .SPLRCT 1.06% advance put it neck-and-neck with real estate. Gains were lopsided, though, with a steep slant in favor of the chip sector, which contributed a 33.5-index-point boost. S&P 500 software and services index .SPLRCIS fell 1.5%, however. Still, it was only its third daily loss out of the last 14 sessions. 
Also in the unpopular department was the consumer discretionary sector .SPLRCD, which fell 1.4% on the day and was the weakest of all the sectors. Interestingly its biggest loser was apparel and handbag purveyor Tapestry TPR.N, which sank 4% in the last session ahead of its quarterly report, due out on Thursday morning. Lululemon LULU.O doesn't tend to report until early September, but it fell 3.8% as the second-biggest discretionary loser behind TPR. 
Of course there were some record closes from the S&P 400 mid-cap index .MID, the Nasdaq biotechnology index .NBI, the Russell 2000 small-cap index .RUT, the S&P 500 banks .SPXBK, the S&P 500 value index .IVX and the S&P equal-weight index .SPXEW. 
 Here is your closing snapshot: 
(Sinéad Carew, Terence Gabriel)
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EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:
QUIET ON THE SURFACE WITH RIPPLES UNDERNEATH CLICK HERE
BOFA CLIENTS STAY BUYERS AS HEDGE FUNDS DRIVE EQUITY INFLOWS CLICK HERE
WALL STREET LOOKS UPWARD AFTER INFLATION DATA CLICK HERE
S&P 500 FUTURES ADD SLIGHTLY TO GAINS, YIELDS CHURN AFTER IN-LINE CPI CLICK HERE
HALF-TIME IN EUROPE: TRYING FOR GAINS CLICK HERE
WHY CHINA'S THREAT TO EUROPEAN AUTOS IS MORE NUANCED THAN IT LOOKS CLICK HERE
HOW AI MIGHT ACCELERATE THE K-SHAPE CLICK HERE
STOXX FLAT, BUT NEAR RECORD HIGHS CLICK HERE 
BEFORE THE BELL: EUROPE SET FOR MUTED OPEN AHEAD OF US DATA CLICK HERE
HOT SPOTS SIZZLE, CPI LOOMS CLICK HERE
     

Wall Street's main indexes  rise https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/akperlargvr/Pasted%20image%201786566624562.png