S&P 500 crosses 7,000 points for the first time, lifted by AI optimism

Jan 28 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 breached the 7,000-point people for the archetypal clip connected Wednesday, driven by unrelenting optimism implicit artificial quality and expectations of ​strong Big Tech net arsenic good arsenic monetary argumentation easing.

The benchmark index's ascent ‌between successive 1,000-point additions has quickened successful caller years, reflecting mounting capitalist assurance successful the U.S. system and ‌corporate America.

It took astir 3 years for the S&P 500 to emergence to 5,000 points from 4,000, but lone astir 9 months to leap from 5,000 to 6,000, which it reached successful November 2024.

The scale was past up 0.3% astatine 6,999.71 points, heading for its sixth consecutive ⁠day of gains, its longest ‌winning streak since October.

AI-linked optimism has been 1 of the cardinal drivers of U.S. markets, pushing tech giants including Nvidia, Microsoft and Alphabet higher. ‍Technology stocks relationship for astir 50% of the S&P 500.

Expectations of involvement complaint cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve person besides buoyed hazard appetite, with traders betting connected 2 25-basis constituent reductions successful ​2026 aft the cardinal slope lowered involvement rates thrice past year.

The Fed is, however, ‌widely expected to clasp involvement rates astatine its gathering aboriginal successful the day.

Markets person rebounded to grounds highs pursuing bouts of selloff earlier this period connected worries related to the U.S.–NATO friction implicit Greenland, tariff uncertainty and doubts implicit the U.S. cardinal bank's independence.

Analysts expect nett for S&P 500 companies to summation 15.5% successful 2026, an betterment from a 13.2% ⁠growth forecast for 2025, according to information compiled by ​LSEG.

Tech earnings, powered by AI boom, are mostly expected ​to thrust U.S. firm maturation successful the 4th quarter, with the sector's nett projected to emergence astir 27%, compared with an estimation of a 9.2% ‍increase wide for S&P ⁠500 companies, LSEG information showed.

Revenue maturation from the tech assemblage successful the 4th was pegged astatine astir 18%, versus the estimation of a 7.3% emergence for S&P ⁠500, the information showed.

The S&P 500 has rebounded astir 45% from its lows successful April 2025, erstwhile U.S. ‌President Donald Trump's tariffs had roiled planetary markets.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and ‌Niket Nishant successful Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)