Bank stocks pulled the market higher – Concerns about artificial intelligence investments weighed on the technology sector

In the United States, the stock market started to rise in the second half of the day, driven especially by banking and financial stocks. Among the key indexes, both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones rose to their new closing records.

The banking and financial sector received support from the US Treasury Scott Bessentin Publishing in the X message service in the letterwhich promised deregulation of the industry, Barrons website write.

For example JP Morgan Chase rose 2.3 percent, Citigroup 0.6 percent and Goldman Sachs 2.5 percent.

Technology stocks, on the other hand, were pushed by the technology company Oraclewhich decreased by almost 11 percent. The company announced its interim results that fell short of analysts’ forecasts on Wednesday after the stock markets closed. The earnings report also reignited concerns about technology stock valuations and whether massive AI investments are overblown.

On Thursday, the industrial company index Dow Jones rose 1.3 percent and the broad S&P 500 stock index, which tracks large companies, rose 0.2 percent. The technology-focused Nasdaq, on the other hand, was down 0.3 percent.

Although the technology sector has fueled the stock market’s rally this year, the uncertainty surrounding investments has caused some investors to move to other sectors. The transition is supported by the fact that the US economic outlook remains strong.

“The market is now much more cautious about AI-related investment. This is a stark contrast to mid-2025, when anything that suggested higher investment generated excitement,” says Panmure Liberumin strategy Susana Cruz for the news agency Bloomberg.

“Oracle has been the weakest link in all of this, largely because it finances a lot of its investments with debt.”

From other big technology companies, the chip giant Nvidia decreased by 1.6 percent. Amazon left 0.7 percent and Google’s parent company Alphabet to a decrease of 2.4 percent. Instead, a software company Microsoft rose 1.1 percent and the social media company Meta 0.4 percent.

Investors were also waiting on Thursday Broadcomin result, which was published after the stock markets closed. According to Barrons, the earnings report exceeded analysts’ forecasts. Broadcom’s share was up about three percent in the secondary market after the earnings announcement.