US stocks drift higher, led by Nvidia and other tech companies

Technology stocks helped lead the way after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported a bigger jump in profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang also said TSMC expects “continued strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies” going into the end of the year.

That’s important for the U.S. stock market because TSMC is a critical player at the center of the AI frenzy, making chips for such companies as Nvidia. TSMC’s stock that trades in Taiwan climbed 1.4%, though its stock that trades in the United States edged down by 0.2%.

Nvidia rose 1.3% and was the strongest single force lifting the S&P 500 because it’s Wall Street’s most valuable stock.

Such AI stocks have been at the center of Wall Street’s surging to record after record this year, even though inflation is still high and the job market is slowing. AI stocks have shot so high that critics worry about another possible bubble, like the one that enveloped dot-com stocks and eventually imploded in 2000.

Companies broadly are under pressure to deliver stronger profits after the S&P 500 surged 35% from a low in April. To justify those gains, which critics say made their stock prices too expensive, companies will need to show they’re making much more in profit and will continue to do so.

Salesforce climbed 8% and was one of the biggest reasons for the Dow’s climb after the company, which helps businesses manage their customers, unveiled a plan to deliver more than 10% in compounded annual revenue growth in coming years.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services trucked 17.3% higher after the freight company breezed past Wall Street’s profit targets in the third quarter.

They helped offset a 4% drop for Travelers, even though the insurer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of forecasts.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise sank 8.8% after giving long-term financial targets that some analysts found underwhelming.

In stock markets abroad, indexes climbed across much of Asia and Europe.

South Korea’s Kospi soared 2.5% on hopes that a trade deal may be coming between Seoul and Washington. Samsung Electronics and automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp. were among the big gainers.

In China, where trade tensions have been rising with the United States, indexes added 0.1% in Shanghai and slipped 0.1% in Hong Kong.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.04% from 4.05% late Wednesday.

A report in the morning said manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region is unexpectedly shrinking. It’s one of the few windows into the economy that the Federal Reserve has been getting recently as it tries to figure out whether high inflation or the weak job market should be the bigger concern for the economy.

The U.S. government’s latest shutdown is delaying important updates on the economy, such as a weekly update on unemployment claims that typically helps guides trading on Wall Street each Thursday. A day earlier, an important report on inflation was also delayed.

AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.