U.S. stocks advanced on August 27 as large technology companies turned strong quarterly results into an index-level rally. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 7,730.99, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 105.56 points, or 0.2%, to 53,569.44, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.6% to 26,541.35.
Nvidia supplied the largest upward force. Its shares jumped 8.7% after quarterly profit and revenue exceeded analysts’ expectations and its next-revenue outlook also came in above consensus, reinforcing expectations that spending on chips for artificial-intelligence systems remains robust.
Salesforce climbed 22.6%, its best session in six years, after beating profit expectations and raising its full-year revenue forecast. The company also expanded a partnership that connects Anthropic’s Claude assistant with its platform, strengthening the market’s interpretation that AI can support software demand rather than only disrupt incumbents.
The headline gain concealed weak breadth: a majority of S&P 500 constituents declined. That divergence matters because it shows the benchmarks depended heavily on a small number of high-capitalization winners, leaving the broader corporate picture less buoyant than the index totals suggested.
HP fell 2.9% despite exceeding profit and revenue expectations. Concerns centered on personal-computer sales and the effect of more expensive memory and other inputs on margins. Best Buy lost 4.4% even after beating estimates as inflation and consumer strain continued to weigh on the retail outlook.
Discount retailers also split. Dollar General gained 2.5% on stronger-than-expected profit, while Dollar Tree dropped 3.9% despite a large profit beat because the midpoint of its forecast for an important underlying revenue measure fell short of expectations.
The bond market offered no parallel easing signal. The 10-year Treasury yield edged up to 4.67% from 4.66% after weekly jobless claims indicated layoffs remained low. Investors were awaiting Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech for guidance on inflation and interest rates.
Energy and overseas markets added crosscurrents. Brent crude rose 1.8% to $88.52 amid uncertainty over the Iran war and Gulf tanker traffic; Seoul and Shanghai gained 1.5% and 1.1%, while Paris fell 1.7%. The session was therefore an earnings-led technology rebound, not a uniform global risk rally.
