The S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.01%) rose 0.65% to 6,902.74, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.44%) added 0.69% to 23,395.82, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.55%) 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 +2.61%), ConocoPhillips (COP +5.09%), and ExxonMobil (XOM +3.59%) rallied on hopes of expanded access to Venezuelan reserves, while mega-cap tech such as Amazon (AMZN +1.96%) 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 2.15%) and Apple (AAPL 0.42%) supplier Foxconn (HNHPF 1.61%) 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.
