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Stocks rose on Wednesday, fueled by a rally in tech stocks, as all major averages reached their highest point since early June.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 47.79 points to conclude Wednesday at 31,874.84.
The S&P 500 regained 23.21 points to 3,959.90.
The NASDAQ Composite rumbled 184.5 points, or 1.6%, to greet the closing bell at 11,897.65.
All three major averages hit their highest level since early June.
Information technology and consumer discretionary stocks led gains in the S&P 500, with each sector up more than 1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, more defensive sectors such as health care and utilities lagged the broader market index.
Semiconductor stocks outperformed after the Senate pushed forward a $50-billion bill to bolster chip manufacturing in the U.S. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices jumped 4.1%, Nvidia was up 4.8%, and Qualcomm advanced 2.9%.
Streaming stocks surged on the back of better-than-expected earnings from Netflix, which said it lost 970,000 subscribers in the second quarter, less than the two million it had previously projected. The streaming giant’s earnings per share also came in above analyst expectations.
Shares of Netflix jumped 7.4%. Disney advanced 3.8%, Paramount climbed nearly 3.8%, and Roku surged 6.9%.
On the economic front, a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association pointed to more pain for U.S. consumers as they deal with higher prices and interest rates. Mortgage demand declined more than 6% last week compared with the prior week, dropping to its lowest level in 22 years.
Treasury prices fell once again, lifting yields to 3.03%, from Tuesday’s 3.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped $1.61 to $102.61 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices backslid $17.50 to $1,683.20 U.S. an ounce.
