The S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.22%) rose 0.65% to 6,902.74, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.46%) added 0.69% to 23,395.82, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 1.34%) climbed 1.23% to 48,977.17, with the Dow notching a record high on energy strength.
Market movers
Energy and bank shares led gains as oil majors including Chevron (CVX +3.33%), ConocoPhillips (COP +2.84%), and ExxonMobil (XOM +1.89%) rallied on hopes of expanded access to Venezuelan reserves, while mega-cap tech such as Amazon (AMZN 1.49%) advanced on renewed AI enthusiasm and upbeat analyst calls.
What this means for investors
The ousting of Venezuala's Nicolás Maduro didn't shake the markets today. Rather, it ignited a rally in energy stocks that could be involved in expanding that country's oil industry.
Oil majors and financial stocks topped the leaderboard, driving the Dow Jones index to a record high. The widely-followed index crossed the 49,000 mark for the first time during intra-day trading.
Big tech stocks, including many artificial intelligence (AI) names, also performed well after Nvidia (NVDA 1.32%) and Apple (AAPL 2.06%) supplier Foxconn (HNHPF 1.19%) reported a 22% surge in Q4 revenues from continued strong AI infrastructure spending.
Investors are also watching the Las Vegas CES tech conference closely, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang set to give a special AI presentation speech there this evening. Any updates from Huang on new products or the status of sales to China will be closely monitored.
