Apple·NVIDIA twin-led rally…closed at record highs [New York Stock Market Briefing]

The three major U.S. stock indices surged and closed at record highs. NVIDIA ignited the AI theme after announcing a large investment in OpenAI, and Apple led tech stock buying as the iPhone 17 received favorable reviews.

On the 22nd (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 46,381.54, up 66.27 points (0.14%) from the previous day. The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at 6,693.75, up 29.39 points (0.44%), and the Nasdaq Composite closed at 22,788.98, up 157.50 points (0.70%).

NVIDIA and OpenAI announced that NVIDIA will invest US$100 billion in OpenAI and that the two companies have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to form a strategic partnership.

The cooperation involves OpenAI building data centers that require 10 gigawatts (GW) of power based on NVIDIA's AI chips. The 10GW-scale data centers OpenAI is building would require about 4,000,000~5,000,000 of NVIDIA's graphics chips (GPUs). NVIDIA is expected to become a major shareholder of OpenAI as a result of this decision.

Oracle also benefited from the mega investment deal between OpenAI and NVIDIA. Expectations that infrastructure investment in the AI industry will continue for several years resulted in a knock-on benefit for Oracle. Oracle's stock rose 6.31%.

Apple also contributed to the tech stock tailwind. Apple's new product, the iPhone 17, had initially received criticism for its design, but demand proved strong upon release. According to JPMorgan, the wait time for the base iPhone 17 model is 21 days, generally longer than a year ago. Apple's stock rose 4.31%. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said in an interview with CNBC that weekend iPhone sales were the largest ever.

On that day, mega tech companies with market capitalizations over US$1 trillion fell, with the exception of NVIDIA, Apple, and Tesla.

U.S. obesity drug developer Mettsera saw its stock skyrocket 60% on news that it would be acquired by major U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

Min-kyung Shin, Hankyung.com reporter radio@hankyung.com