US stocks rallied sharply on Thursday as investors pulled back bets on a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike after Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he would favour keeping rates steady if upcoming data confirms that inflationary pressures are easing, Reuters reported. 21.

32. Waller told Reuters he would be inclined to leave interest rates unchanged if the data shows price pressures are continuing to ease, while adding that he would support a rate hike if inflation fails to cool.

His comments quickly shifted the rate outlook. 2% a day earlier, according to CME's FedWatch tool.

S. Treasury yield falling for a second consecutive session after recently reaching its highest level since November 2023.

Long-dated yields had climbed sharply as investors worried about inflation, rising government debt and geopolitical uncertainty." S.

Bank Wealth Management, Billings, Montana. But beneath the broad market rally, earnings continued to separate winners from losers, particularly in technology and AI-related stocks.

9 billion, adding to its push into the artificial intelligence ecosystem and putting it in greater competition with OpenAI and Anthropic. Broadcom, however, fell after its fourth-quarter revenue forecast came in below the lofty expectations surrounding the AI boom.

The decline underscored the increasingly high bar for companies benefiting from the surge in AI investment." Underneath the broad market indices, we're seeing continued influence by those late reporters from the second-quarter earnings reporting season," Northey said.

" And that's driving some differentiation between spaces like semiconductors, where we had a high-profile report yesterday afternoon, and also within the software space, where we've seen some differential results, meeting or exceeding somewhat lower bar standards." Software stocks provided another leg to the rally, with Snowflake surging after forecasting strong annual revenue.

ServiceNow, Salesforce and Adobe also advanced. Thursday's economic data offered a mixed signal for the Fed.

Weekly jobless claims remained low and activity in the services sector accelerated, pointing to resilience in the economy. Investors now turn to Friday's employment report for a clearer signal on the Fed's next move.