Dow jumps 246 pts as chip stocks rebound; oil nears $90

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 246 points on Thursday as semiconductor stocks led a market rebound, while West Texas Intermediate crude approached $90 a barrel after U.S. forces carried out strikes related to Iran and President Donald Trump warned of further action. The S&P 500 gained 0.29% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.28% as investors returned to technology shares that had fallen earlier in the week.

Semiconductor names were the strongest performers. Nvidia, Intel and Micron Technology rose between about 0.6% and 8%, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF climbed roughly 3%. Bank of America upgraded Intel to Buy from Underperform, citing stronger demand for central processing units and opportunities tied to agentic artificial intelligence.

A steep selloff earlier in the week had pushed many chip stocks into correction territory after a large rally. Some traders also moved cash ahead of a major initial public offering. SpaceX is scheduled to list on Friday with an expected valuation near $1.75 trillion to $1.8 trillion, which would be the largest public debut on record.

Energy prices limited broader gains. West Texas Intermediate futures rose nearly 1% to around $90 per barrel after U.S. Central Command reported it launched additional self-defense strikes against Iranian targets late Wednesday at the president’s direction. Mr. Trump told reporters the United States would hit Iran “very hard tonight” and later wrote that the U.S. would take Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure and assume control of Iran’s oil and gas markets.

Economic data released Thursday showed the producer price index rose 1.1% in May, above economists’ expectations of 0.7%, while core producer inflation, excluding food and energy, increased 0.4%. New claims for unemployment benefits ticked up modestly last week. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady at its June 17 policy meeting, though markets still price in at least one quarter-point rate increase before year-end.

Outside the chip sector, Oracle shares fell about 12% after the company said it would raise an additional $20 billion in equity and debt to fund artificial intelligence infrastructure investments. Corporate travel platform Navan climbed roughly 11% after raising full-year revenue and operating income forecasts, citing stronger business travel demand and growth among enterprise customers.

Market participants monitored oil prices, developments in the Middle East, incoming economic data and the SpaceX listing for signals on the next direction of stocks.