Nasdaq jumps as easing Treasury yields lift growth stocks; Twitter surges

NEW YORK: The Nasdaq led Wall Street higher on Tuesday, powered by megacap growth and technology stocks as US Treasury yields dipped, while Twitter Inc jumped on reports Elon Musk is proposing to go ahead with his original offer for the social media firm.

If gains hold, the Nasdaq Composite index is set to notch its best single-day performance since July 27.

Data showed US job openings, a measure of labor demand, fell by the most in nearly 2-1/2 years in August.

Lifting rate-sensitive tech and tech-adjacent stocks, the yields on the 10-year US Treasury fell for a second day after the jobs data and a surprise move by Australia’s central bank to slow its pace of rate hikes.

“Jolts coming in lower than expected points to a weakening labor market,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman and managing member of New York-based Great Hill Capital.

“If confirmed by the NFP (non-farm payroll) jobs report on Friday it could give Fed cover to slow down its tightening.” Nevertheless, Governor Philip Jefferson said inflation is the most serious problem facing the Federal Reserve and “may take some time” to address and San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said the central bank needs to deliver further interest rate hikes.

Megacap market leaders such as Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc and Nvidia Corp advanced between 2% and 5%, while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index climbed 4.1%.

Billionaire Elon Musk is proposing to go ahead with his original offer of $54.20 per share to take Twitter Inc private, two sources familiar with the matter said, sending shares of the social media firm up 12.7%.

Tesla Inc, the electric vehicle company that Musk heads, pared some early gains but still traded 1.5% higher.

At 12:52 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 713.98 points, or 2.42%, at 30,204.87, the S&P 500 was up 96.88 points, or 2.63%, at 3,775.31, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 315.72 points, or 2.92%, at 11,131.15.

Banks such as Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs climbed nearly 5%, boosting the banks index by 4%.

Indicative of the broad-based nature of gains, only nine stocks on the benchmark S&P 500 index were trading in the negative territory.

The rebound in stocks on the first trading session of the final quarter on Monday followed the S&P 500’s lowest close in nearly two years on Friday that capped its worst monthly performance since March 2020.

Rivian Automotive Inc jumped 12.1% after the electric-vehicle maker said it produced 7,363 units in the third quarter, 67% higher than the preceding quarter, and maintained its full-year target of 25,000.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 9.87-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 4.81-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 41 new highs and 45 new lows.