Summary
Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, recently described the stock market as moving in ‘Toy Story’ fashion ‘to infinity and beyond.’ On Wednesday, the major indices rose another 1.5%-2.1% and printed their second straight upside price gap, this as the AI train continues to roar down the track. Once again, the scorching semiconductor stocks led, ripping 5% higher based on the SMH and SOXX ETFs, as well as the Dow Jones Semiconductor Index. Starting from the largest players, the almost $5 trillion market cap NVDA rose almost 6%, TSM was up 6.4%, AMD 19%, ASML 7%, LRCX 8%, ARM 14%, and ACLS 22%. Electrical component and electronic equipment stocks continued to soar, with GLW up 12%, JBL 10%, FLEX 38%, IPGP 12%, and VECO 25%. Industrials also did well on the back of the airlines, aerospace, commercial vehicles and trucks, and industrial machinery. Two other less-discussed areas of the market that also are benefiting from AI include rare earth and lithium stocks. The VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals ETF (REMX) has soared 38% since March 20, while the Global X Lithium ETF (LIT) has spiked 37% since March 20. Energy (XLE) dropped 4% and exploration & production (XOP) fell 6% as WTI slipped 6%, dr
