US Stock Market Today After Hours: Why the Dow Reclaimed 50,000 as AI Stocks Drove Wall Street Higher
Late Thursday, U.S. stocks hovered close to record levels. The artificial-intelligence surge had already sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to new closing highs, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average reclaimed 50,000. In after-hours action, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, Invesco QQQ Trust, and SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF all kept their session gains—a signal that momentum stuck around past the bell. Why this matters right now comes down to this: Wall Street keeps bidding up stocks for AI-related earnings, despite oil-fueled inflation making it tough for the Federal Reserve to defend any rate cuts. Fresh economic data on Thursday propped up the “growth is holding up” narrative, yet it also firmed up bets that rates could remain elevated longer than investors would like.