By Stephen Culp and Niket Nishant
NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street gained ground on Wednesday in a partial rebound from a three-day losing streak as investors searched for deals among stocks and sectors that might have been oversold amid recent risk-off moves.
All three major U.S. stock indexes were modestly higher, with the small-cap Russell 2000 slightly ahead of its larger-cap peers.
On the sector level, airlines, gold and silver miners and regional banks were the frontrunners, with software
and services, seen as potentially bearing the brunt of AI disruption, the clear underperformers.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index, which has powered much of the stock market's gains so far this year but has lost nearly one-fourth of its value since late June, was on the rise, with chipmaker Broadcom expected to deliver second-quarter results after the bell.
"Yesterday, everyone was concerned about bond yield and (the Iran war in) the Middle East, it was weighing on the market," said Michael Monaghan, portfolio manager at Founder ETFs in Dallas. "Today, people aren't focused on it."
"Everyone is looking for reasons why AI (stocks are) not going to go higher and people are poking around and looking for other places to put their money," Monaghan added. "But ultimately, the signals are that the AI trade is very strong."
Nvidia, the chipmaker at the forefront of the AI wave, was up 3.4%, while Micron and Qualcomm were up 1.3% and 1.8%, respectively.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 270.05 points, or 0.51%, to 53,036.93, the S&P 500 gained 37.10 points, or 0.49%, to 7,668.57 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 100.11 points, or 0.38%, to 26,199.89.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, materials were enjoying the biggest percentage gains, while real estate was the sole percentage loser.
Alphabet edged up 0.8% after defeating a U.S. bid to break up Google's advertising technology business.
Hardware firm Dell advanced 10.8% after raising its annual profit and revenue forecast.
Brown-Forman rose 4.5% after the Jack Daniel's maker beat first-quarter profit estimates.
Uber Technologies gained 2.2% after the rideshare app announced it will lay off about 10% of its staff.
BOND SELLOFF STILL KEEPING MARKETS ON EDGE
Keeping gains in check, the market-shaking global bond selloff continued, fueled by fears over inflation and mushrooming government debt, and compounded by escalating tensions in the Middle East, which have put upward pressure on energy prices.
The United States and Iran ramped up their attacks in the biggest exchange of airstrikes since July, dousing hopes of a return to the negotiating table and raising the likelihood that protracted hostilities could result in systemic inflation and force central bank leaders to raise borrowing costs.
In economics, payrolls processor ADP reported fewer-than-expected private sector job adds in August, while new orders for core capital goods were downwardly revised, signalling a potential softening in U.S. corporate spending plans.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.99-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 117 new highs and 235 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 3,011 stocks rose and 1,678 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.79-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and nine new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 48 new highs and 118 new lows.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp in New York and Niket Nishant and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Matthew Lewis)
