Dow jumps 1% as healthcare rallies, AI stocks swing and the S&P 500 nears its record
After the close, Thursday October 15: what moved, why, and what to watch next.
Dusk Ledger · Thursday, October 15, 2026 · 5:00 PM ET
Dusk Ledger · Thursday, October 15, 2026 · 5:00 PM ET
The close
| Index | Close | Day |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,744.07 | +24.94 points, +0.32% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 52,180.93 | +559.45 points, +1.08% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 26,711.24 | +18.37 points, +0.07% |
Figures are Reuters' preliminary closing numbers. RTTNews, published at 4:16 PM ET, had the Dow at 52,177.69 (+556.21), the S&P 500 at 7,744.06 (+25.12) and the Nasdaq at 26,713.03 (+20.16). The AP rounded the moves to +0.3% for the S&P 500, +1.1% for the Dow and +0.1% for the Nasdaq. After a record high last week, the S&P 500 is up about 13% in 2026 and trades at about 19 times expected earnings, near its lowest since 2023 (Reuters).
What moved, and why
Money moved out of AI and into defensive stocks. Reuters said the S&P 500 sprang back from early losses as investors shifted into Eli Lilly, UnitedHealth and other healthcare and consumer stocks. Lilly, UnitedHealth and Walmart rallied after rating upgrades by Deutsche Bank. The AP said seven of every 10 S&P 500 stocks rose, led by Marsh & McLennan after a stronger profit than analysts expected. See our midday market story and Schwab and U.S. Bancorp.
AI stocks kept swinging. The Philadelphia semiconductor index fell for a seventh straight session, Reuters said, with Broadcom and Nvidia dipping after TSMC struck a cautious note on 2027 despite a sixth straight record quarterly profit; see our TSMC story and our chip stocks story. Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise added to Wednesday's sharp losses (Reuters). CoreWeave, down as much as 9.5% in the morning, flipped to a gain by the afternoon (AP): our CoreWeave story. Anthropic's reported quarter is in our Anthropic story.
Yields fell despite more inflation news. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 5.08% from 5.19% late Wednesday (AP), staying near multiyear highs (Reuters). Producer prices rose by the most in 4-1/2 years in September (Reuters): our PPI story. CME's FedWatch tool put the chance of a Fed hike by the December meeting at 67%, up from 62% on Wednesday (Reuters). More in our Fed story.
Single-stock drops. Rocket Lab and FMC both fell after company news (Reuters): our story.
What to watch next
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh speaks tonight at 11:30 PM ET (CoinDesk, CNBC): see our Fed story. The Fed meets October 27-28 (CNBC). Earlier today: Toast & Tickers.