The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed the 50,000 threshold for the first time on Friday as traders appeared to brush off concerns about spending on artificial intelligence.
The Dow surged 2.47 per cent - or 1,206 points - to close at 50,115.67, a new record. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also saw a snapback from this week's tech rout, rising 1.97 and 2.18 per cent, respectively.
Some of the biggest names in the technology industry led the charge. Chipmaker Nvidia rose 7.87 per cent at $185.41 a share, while Tesla and Palantir posted gains of 3.50 and 4.53 per cent, respectively. Oracle also bounced back, while Google parent Alphabet and Amazon fell 2.48 and 5.55 per cent, respectively.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang told CNBC on Friday that he expects the build-out of artificial intelligence to last another seven or eight years, while demand for the technology remains "just incredibly high".
“AI has become useful and very capable," he said.
Mr Huang's comments come after Meta, Amazon, Google and Microsoft - four key hyperscalers in the AI buildout - made their latest earnings reports. According to an analysis from The Financial Times, they expect to spend $660 billion on capital expenditures this year.
The bounce-back extended to cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin up 11.62 per cent at $70,099.37. Ethereum and Dogecoin were also in positive territory.
Meanwhile, a closely watched jobs report was delayed until next week. Separate data released this week showed job openings dropped to their lowest level since 2020 in December, while private-sector data showed layoff announcements in January surged to their highest level since 2009.
Treasury yields were little changed, with the yield on the 10-year virtually flat at 4.206 per cent. The 30-year Treasury yield was less than 1 basis point lower at 4.853 per cent.
