NEW YORK: US stocks rebounded on Tuesday, led by recovering technology shares as investors assessed Anthropic’s announcement of new AI tools and weighed President Donald Trump’s shifting stance on trade tariffs.
Anthropic announced several new plug-ins targeting industries such as investment banking and HR, weeks after its earlier releases stoked a selloff in traditional software stocks.
Several other sectors ranging from commercial real estate to trucking and logistics have recently logged steep declines, as new developments in the AI space stoked worries of industrywide disruptions.
The S&P 500 software and services index, which has plunged more than 23 percent so far this year, advanced 0.8 percent on the day with help from Salesforce, which was among the biggest gainers.
February has been a dour month for US equities as high stock valuations and AI concerns pressure technology and other sectors, with investors questioning if massive AI spending was actually paying off.
At 11:41 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 338.50 points, or 0.69 percent, to 49,142.56, the S&P 500 added 39.24 points, or 0.57 percent, to 6,876.99, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 197.09 points, or 0.87 percent, to 22,824.37.
All three main indexes fell more than 1 percent on Monday, with financials and software stocks among the worst hit as the fallout from Friday’s US Supreme Court ruling striking down Trump’s tariffs triggered an exodus from high-risk equities.
After the verdict, Trump announced a temporary global tariff of 10 percent, which came into effect on Tuesday. He later said the levy would be 15 percent, but it was unclear when and if this would apply.
Analysts also attributed Monday’s selloff to a bearish report from Citrini Research outlining potential threats to the global economy from the rise of artificial intelligence.
Most megacap and growth stocks bounced back slightly on Tuesday, with Apple leading gains with a 2.3 percent rise, while Nvidia climbed 0.4 percent ahead of its earnings, which are due after market close on Wednesday.
Advanced Micro Devices jumped 7.6 percent after the chipmaker said it had agreed to sell up to USD60 billion worth of AI chips to Meta Platforms over five years.
Meanwhile, several Federal Reserve officials including Fed governors Christopher Waller and Lisa Cook are speaking through the day.
Trump is slated to deliver the traditional State of the Union address to Congress later in the day.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.52-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.87-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 32 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 71 new highs and 133 new lows.
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