US markets end sharply higher amid optimism over trade deal between US-South Korea

25 Apr 2025 Evaluate

The US markets continued to add strong gains on third straight session and closed higher on Thursday. The tech stocks led the charge which saw Nasdaq gaining more than two and a half percent, supported by strong up move in Texas Instruments (TXN) and Lam Research (LRCX) on reporting better than expected quarterly earnings. The market sentiments continued to remain resilient despite the comments from a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson saying that absolutely no negotiations on the economy and trade between China and the U.S. which has partly offset optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal. Meanwhile, trading sentiments remained upbeat as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that the U.S. may reach an agreement on understanding on trade with South Korea as soon as next week. Trader paid no heed to the report released by Labor Department showed that the first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged modestly higher in the week ended April 19. 

On the sectoral front, Semiconductor stocks emerged as the best performer on the day, pulling Philadelphia Semiconductor Index by 5.6 percent. Meanwhile, significant strength has been seen in software and computer hardware stocks with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index and the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index surging by 4.6 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively.

Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 486.83 points or 1.23 percent to 40,093.4, Nasdaq 457.99 points or 2.74 percent to 17,166.04, and S&P 500 shot up 108.91 points or 2.03 percent to 5,484.77.

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