NEW YORK, Jan 6, 2026, 15:16 EST
- Dow hits a fresh record high as chip and healthcare shares lead gains
- SanDisk jumps 23% as storage and memory stocks rally on AI hardware optimism tied to CES
- Investors watch U.S. jobs data and Fed signals after shutdown-related gaps in key reports
U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, lifting the Dow to a fresh record as chip and healthcare shares led gains. At about 2:30 p.m. ET, the Dow was up 1.02% at 49,476.54, while the S&P 500 gained 0.62% to 6,944.55 and the Nasdaq rose 0.61% to 23,537.96. SanDisk jumped 23% and Moderna climbed 10%; Argent Capital portfolio manager Jed Ellerbroek said he expects “a very strong earnings season for Big Tech” and higher capex, short for capital spending. Reuters
The rally kept the S&P 500 within range of the record it set in late December, with big tech moves doing much of the heavy lifting. Amazon rose 3.9% while Apple fell 1.7% as investors leaned back into the artificial-intelligence trade heading into CES 2026 in Las Vegas, AP reported. SanDisk’s stock has risen more than 800% since it was spun off from Western Digital in February, the news agency said.
Investors were also still weighing the market impact of U.S. action in Venezuela, which helped propel oil prices and energy shares a day earlier and sent the Dow to a record close. “It’s a reasonable reaction from the markets to largely ignore the geopolitics,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president and advisor at Wealthspire Advisors. On Monday, the Dow rose 594.79 points to 48,977.18, while the S&P 500 closed at 6,902.05 and the Nasdaq at 23,395.82. Reuters
Nvidia’s CES message also created clear winners and losers across the supply chain. Chief Executive Jensen Huang said the company’s next generation of chips is in “full production” and that “no water chillers are necessary for data centres,” prompting a selloff in some cooling-system suppliers. Johnson Controls fell 7.5% and Trane Technologies dropped 5.3%, while Barclays analysts led by Julian Mitchell wrote Nvidia’s comments “should not be taken lightly.” Reuters
Oil-linked stocks and refiners had been among Monday’s leaders on hopes U.S. policy could open a path to Venezuela’s vast reserves, even as the White House kept an embargo on Venezuelan oil exports in place. Chevron ended Monday up 5%, while refiners such as Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66, PBF Energy and Valero gained between 3.4% and 9.3%, Reuters reported. “This type of crude aligns well with the configuration of U.S. Gulf Coast refineries,” said Ahmad Assiri, research strategist at Pepperstone. Reuters
The next catalyst is macro data, after last fall’s federal shutdown interrupted some official reporting and left markets working with gaps in key inflation and labor series. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said further rate moves will need to be “finely tuned” to incoming data, with inflation still above the central bank’s 2% target and unemployment edging higher from historically low levels. The Fed’s next policy meeting is scheduled for Jan. 27-28, and Friday’s December jobs report is expected to put the government’s employment releases back on a regular schedule. Reuters
But the same Nvidia commentary that lifted storage and memory names also hit parts of the data-center supply chain, underlining how fast the AI trade can rotate. A surprise in Friday’s payrolls data or a renewed jump in inflation expectations could quickly reshape bets on rate cuts and pressure equity valuations.
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