NextFin News - U.S. stocks rallied sharply Thursday, recovering a large portion of Wednesday's Fed-driven losses, as falling oil prices and easing Treasury yields removed some of the uncertainty that had rattled markets a day earlier. The session's central tension eased rather than intensified: with the Fed's first hike since 2023 now confirmed and priced, investors could refocus on resilient labor data and a wave of positive corporate catalysts, from a blowout AI demand comment out of Nvidia to a major new infrastructure deal for Generac. Technology and industrials led the advance, while a stronger-than-expected jobless claims report reinforced the view that the labor market remains firm even as the Fed tightens policy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.61%
The S&P 500 Index rose 1.14%
The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.66%
Stock & Sector Performance
Industrials and technology were the standout sectors of the session. Within the Dow, Caterpillar closed near the top of the index with a 2.0% gain, while Deere jumped 2.4%. Generac Holdings surged roughly 18%–20% after disclosing a long-term agreement to supply Amazon's data centers with up to $8 billion in backup power generators through 2033, with Amazon separately gaining the right to purchase up to 1.7 million Generac shares at $201 apiece in tranches tied to future generator purchases; Amazon shares themselves rose about 2.1% on the news. UBS Global Research analyst Jon Windham called the deal "a significant positive for GNRC, a company that only announced the intent to enter the large data center market in 2025." On the downside, CoreWeave fell after announcing plans to raise capital through new stock and convertible bond offerings, and Fluence Energy tumbled after lowering its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to approximately $2.4 billion from a prior $2.9 billion–$3.1 billion range, well below the roughly $2.96 billion analysts had expected.
Magnificent Seven trading was broadly positive, led by Nvidia, which rallied after CEO Jensen Huang said he expects the company to double its chip sales in 2027. Cisco, Microsoft, and Apple also participated in the tech-sector rally, while Amazon added about 2.1% on the Generac agreement.
Hot Sectors to Watch
Semiconductors staged a sharp, broad-based rebound today, and the move looks more like a genuine relief rally than a one-off bounce. Intel gained more than 8% as chip stocks broadly recovered from recent pressure, while memory names Seagate Technology and Western Digital each rose around 3.5% in early trading, extending gains as falling Treasury yields reduced the valuation pressure that had weighed on high-multiple hardware names earlier in the week. The catalyst was distinctly positive and forward-looking rather than merely a mechanical bounce: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's comment that he expects the company to double chip sales in 2027 gave the broader AI-infrastructure trade a fresh demand signal just as the sector was digesting the prior day's rate-hike shock. Industrials and power infrastructure told a complementary story, with Generac's Amazon deal reinforcing the durability of data-center-driven capital spending even in a higher-rate environment — a sign that AI infrastructure buildout continues to attract new corporate commitments regardless of the Fed's tightening path. Whether today's chip-sector strength represents a confirmed trend reversal or a one-day relief rally tied specifically to the Fed decision passing without further hawkish surprise remains the key question for the sector heading into next week.
Major Story of the Day
Amazon's $8 billion infrastructure agreement with Generac was the day's standout single-company story. Under the deal, Generac will supply backup power generators for Amazon's data centers, with initial deliveries expected to total $2.4 billion across 2027 and 2028. As part of the arrangement, Generac issued an Amazon subsidiary warrants to purchase up to approximately 1.69 million shares at an exercise price of $200.93 each — a package that could be worth as much as $340 million if fully vested, with roughly 308,000 shares vesting immediately and the remainder tied to Amazon's future generator payments. The transaction extends a now-familiar pattern of Amazon taking direct equity stakes in key infrastructure suppliers, following similar warrant arrangements with Qualcomm, Astera Labs, and other partners, underscoring how deeply Amazon Web Services' AI-driven data-center buildout is reshaping capital allocation and supplier relationships across the power and semiconductor supply chains.
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