The S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.52%) rose 0.62% to 6,944.82, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.78%) added 0.65% to 23,547.17 as Big Tech extended its New Year rally, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDEX: ^DJI) gained 0.99% to 49,462.08, a record high as it closed above 49,000 for the first time.
Market movers
Palantir Technologies (PLTR +1.25%) jumped on the back of analyst upgrades and enthusiasm for agentic AI. Sandisk Corporation (SNDK 5.59%) soared after Nvidia (NVDA 1.53%) CEO Jensen Huang said the memory storage chip market was underserved. Software names RingCentral (RNG 1.88%) and HubSpot (HUBS 0.61%) also advanced on optimism around AI-driven cloud demand.
What this means for investors
Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones set new records today, extending an "everything rally" that also saw gold, silver, and copper near their highs. It is unusual to see safe-haven assets surge alongside equities, and this shift in investor behaviour could be driven by geopolitical uncertainty and AI driven demand for metals.
AI stocks continue to drive gains as well as expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue to ease monetary policy. Investors will be watching several key labor data reports this week, particularly the December report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics due on Friday. Analysts such as Goldman Sachs (GS 4.48%) predict continued growth in 2026, though at a slower pace. Even so, there's still concern about how sustainable this rally will be.
