Dow hits record high; Broadcom-led chip selloff weighs on Nasdaq

By Medha Singh and Twesha Dikshit

June 4 (Reuters) – The Dow scaled an all-time high and the S&P 500 rose on Thursday, lifted by UnitedHealth and financials shares, while Broadcom’s results fell short of high investor expectations, dragging down chip stocks and the Nasdaq.

Broadcom shares slumped 14% after the chipmaker also maintained its long-range forecast of $100 billion in sales from its AI chips. The stock has climbed nearly 55% this quarter and could shed nearly $320 billion in market value if losses hold through the session.

The S&P 500 tech index dropped the most, down 1.8%, while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index tumbled 2.8%.

“Broadcom earnings (were) good news other than the fact that their guidance wasn’t what the market may have been expecting,” said Dustin Thackeray, chief investment officer at Crewe Advisors.

“The chips are due for a bit of a breather. Obviously, they’ve had a tremendous run-up from end of March lows.”

After a weak start to the session, the S&P 500 turned higher as a rotation out of tech shares boosted other areas of the market, with nine out of 11 major S&P 500 sectors in the green.

Healthcare shares added 3.1%, aided by a 5.7% advance in UnitedHealth after Bank of America raised its rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s shares to “buy.”

The financial index rose 1.8% after a sharp fall in the previous session on renewed concerns over private credit.

Blackstone became the latest asset manager to cap withdrawals from its flagship private credit fund following a rise in redemption requests.

The rally on Wall Street has stalled this week as investors weigh a renewed flare-up in hostilities between the United States and Iran.

Although the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in early April, talks to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz have made little progress, threatening to keep oil prices elevated and stoke inflation.

At 11:29 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 862.27 points, or 1.70%, to 51,549.34, the S&P 500 gained 19.32 points, or 0.26%, to 7,573.00 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 51.21 points, or 0.19%, to 26,802.76.

The small-cap Russell 2000 gained 1.3%.

Weekly jobless claims data showed the number of Americans filing claims increased more than expected last week, ahead of Friday’s broader monthly employment report.

The data will give new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh a fresh read on the U.S. labor market as he heads into his first policy meeting this month, at a time when U.S. consumers are under strain from Iran war-driven price pressures.

Traders see a 75% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike before the end of the year, LSEG data showed.

Among market movers, CrowdStrike slumped 8.5% after the cybersecurity company reported a rise in its first-quarter operating expenses.

An investor roadshow for Elon Musk-led SpaceX begins on Thursday ahead of its market debut on June 12. It aims to raise $75 billion in a record IPO that would value it at $1.75 trillion and rank it among the top 10 U.S.-listed firms.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.72-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.34-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 7 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 21 new highs and 40 new lows.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Devika Syamnath)