Market Indexes Rally as Tesla and Goldman Sachs Take the Wheel

On Wednesday, I suggested that the rest of the week should be calm. Maybe I jinxed the market in a bullish way. Stocks rallied broadly on Thursday.

The Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) rose 1.3% as of 1:29 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) climbed 1.1%, and the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) added 1%. All three indexes are now slightly up from last Thursday's closing scores. Yesterday, they seemed destined for a down week.

^IXIC data by YCharts

SpaceX and Tesla powered the Nasdaq's 1.3% gain

The biggest single push behind the Nasdaq Composite came from Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX), up 7.8% and worth 0.29 percentage points of the index move on its own. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) followed with a 7% jump, good for another 0.19 points. Tesla is unveiling a two-seat robotaxi at a Cybercab event in Austin after the close tonight, and SpaceX went along for the ride on the strength of a shared chief executive.

The Dow told a different story. Goldman Sachs rose 3.1%, contributing 179 Dow points, or roughly 30% of the entire index gain. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Travelers each added 2.7%. Microsoft is restructuring to a simpler two-segment reporting structure. The biggest Dow contributor didn't announce anything, but the overall vibe is clearly bullish. 25 of the 30 Dow stocks are higher right now.

Then there's Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), which generated the loudest headline of the day but one of the quieter stock moves. Rumor evolved into real news as Nvidia announced a $12.9 billion bid for AI platform Hugging Face. The stock rose 1.3%, adding roughly $73 billion to Nvidia's market value. Rumors of the same deal moved Nvidia 3.8% higher yesterday, so the official version was worth about a third of the speculation (but still several times Hugging Face's price tag).

Image source: Getty Images.

Semiconductors skipped the party

Chip stocks are generally sitting out today's market exuberance.

Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) fell 3.6% after guiding fourth-quarter revenue to $34.8 billion against a $35.0 billion consensus. CEO Hock Tan also issued robust revenue guidance for the next two years, but Wall Street didn't seem to care.

Micron Technology and SK Hynix both slipped about 1.5%, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF finished slightly negative. The hardware sector caught a cold from Broadcom's sneeze.

Macroeconomic markers sent mixed signals today. Gold and Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) are up by 2% and 5%, respectively. The paired safe-haven bets linked up again after a split on Wednesday. As for the oil trade, the U.S. Oil Fund (NYSEMKT: USO) rose 0.8% while American ships escorted a record number of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Boosted oil shipments usually result in lower prices, but I see the opposite reaction today.

The August jobs report arrives tomorrow morning, the final significant data release before the Federal Reserve meets Sept. 15-16. Thursday's broad rally suggests the market has taken a position on what it will show. Spoiler alert: With a lead-in like this, people expect good news.

Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin, Micron Technology, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Broadcom, Goldman Sachs Group, Micron Technology, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, and iShares Trust-iShares Semiconductor ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.