Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on January 6, 2026 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Thursday, but Nasdaq Composite It came under pressure as investors moved away from technology stocks.
The Dow 30 rose 270.03 points (0.55%) to close at 49,266.11. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.44% to settle at 23,480.02. of S&P500 It rose 0.01% to close at 6,921.46. Information technology was a laggard among the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, falling more than 1%.
Darling of artificial intelligence Nvidia Some of the stocks that investors exited ended the day down more than 2%. Friends AI play oracle It returned more than 1%. iPhone maker stock price apple The stock also fell, marking its seventh consecutive day of losses.
Rob Howarth, senior investment strategy director at US Bank Asset Management, believes technology and AI will remain important themes in 2026, but that trade’s status as an upside factor will depend on which sectors start to see use cases.
“We are seeing early signs of that in the medical field,” he said. “When you think about robotics, insurance, diagnostics, all these types of companies are going to benefit early. We think there’s a growth story there.”
Indeed, Howarth cited industrials and finance as two key areas to focus on, adding that there is a need to broaden the breadth of performance. “These stories are starting to get better this year, and I think that’s going to be the key to continuing this rally,” he said.
Defense stocks were a bright spot on the day, with major stocks rising after President Donald Trump called for a $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027. This is a significant increase from the $901 billion Congress approved in 2026. Northrop Grumman 2% increase; lockheed martin It rose by about 4%. kratos defense It rose almost 14%.
The S&P 500 and Dow ended Wednesday’s session in the red after hitting record highs. These declines came as oil prices fell after President Trump said Venezuela’s transitional authorities would hand over up to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States, raising concerns about increased oil supplies.
Oil prices rebounded on Thursday, brent crude oil futures and West Texas Intermediate Oil prices rose more than 3% each.
