NEW YORK, June 4, 2026, 16:02 EDT
- Dow bounces as healthcare and financial shares move higher following Wednesday’s selloff.
- Broadcom’s slip holds chip stocks down and caps gains for the Nasdaq.
- Oil and Treasury yields are lower, but risks from the Middle East and the labor market are still on the table.
Dow Jones hit a record high Thursday, lifted by gains in healthcare and financial names and as oil fell. Buying in those sectors outweighed a slide in Broadcom that weighed on the Nasdaq, keeping the tech index in check.
Dow jumps 810 points, S&P and Nasdaq higher at close, Reuters says
The Dow finished up 809.88 points, or 1.60%, closing at 51,496.83, according to preliminary numbers from Reuters. S&P 500 advanced 39.74 points, or 0.53%, to 7,593.42. Nasdaq Composite ended the session up 60.69 points, or 0.23%, at 26,915.12.
Stocks rebounded Thursday, a day after Wall Street fell from record highs as higher oil prices and Middle East jitters stirred inflation fears. The bounce pointed to investors shifting into safer stocks, not leaving equities.
Healthcare and financials drove gains. UnitedHealth climbed 5.0% after Bank of America upgraded the stock to “buy.” Financials bounced back from losses seen on Wednesday when private-credit fears hit the sector, according to Reuters. Reuters
Oil offered a clear read. Brent crude lost about 3%, trading near $95 a barrel. The move followed word of a possible U.S.-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, plus action by the U.S. House to try to stop President Donald Trump from continuing the war with Iran. Cheaper oil can take some pressure off inflation, which can support stocks by lowering worries over tighter monetary policy.
AI doubts stuck around after the rally. Broadcom slid 11.2% as its second-quarter revenue missed forecasts and the company kept its long-term AI-chip sales target steady. That weighed on chip stocks, though some competitors managed to avoid similar losses.
“Broadcom is down, but Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor are up,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York, in an interview with Reuters. Pursche called the split “rational exuberance.” He said investors are backing the “right companies” and punishing ones that disappoint. Reuters
Broadcom is guiding for $16 billion in AI chip sales for the fiscal third quarter, trailing Visible Alpha’s $16.36 billion view. Ben Bajarin, CEO at Creative Strategies, said this wasn’t demand falling apart. “They just didn’t raise it,” he said. Reuters
Ryan Lee, senior vice president of product and strategy at Direxion, said the market “demands perfection” if the chip rally is going to last. That’s important for the Dow, since any slip in AI leadership can hurt risk appetite, even if Dow names don’t have a lot of chips. Reuters
Jobless claims ticked up, with new unemployment filings climbing 13,000 to 225,000 for the week ending May 30, hitting a four-month high. Even so, economists said the labor market remains steady.
Pantheon Macroeconomics senior U.S. economist Oliver Allen told Reuters that while jobless claims stay low, it’s not clear that the labor market is running smoothly. Allen called it a “low fire, low hire” environment—companies aren’t cutting a lot of jobs, but they aren’t ramping up hiring either. Reuters
Friday’s May jobs numbers are next up. Economists in a Reuters poll are calling for an 85,000 nonfarm payroll gain, with jobless rate steady at 4.3%. A bigger wage or jobs number could lift Treasury yields and hurt rate-sensitive Dow stocks.
Risk is still obvious. The ceasefire path looks shaky after Hezbollah said no, and the House measure on war powers has political roadblocks ahead. If oil climbs or chip selling moves from Broadcom into Nvidia, Marvell or other AI stocks, Thursday’s Dow jump may end up just a quick move, not the start of a breakout.
