US stocks settle higher, Dow Jones above 40,000 pts

US stocks rose on Thursday, supported by strong performances from major technology companies, amid anticipation for any signs of easing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average leapt 1.23%, or 486 points, to settle at 40,093 points, maintaining its uptrend for the third straight session.

The S&P 500 index rose 2% to 5,484 points, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.74% to close at 17,166 points.

Major tech companies posted strong performances, with Nvidia soaring 3.62% to $106.43. Meta leapt 2.48% to $533.15. Amazon climbed 3.29% to $186.54. Tesla rose 3.50% to $259.24. Microsoft was up 3.45% at $387.30.

As for European markets, the STOXX Europe 600 inched up 0.36% to 518 points.

The British FTSE index settled at 8,407 points, while the German DAX index was up 0.47% to 22,064 points. The French CAC 40 index rose 0.27% to 7,502 points.

The Nikkei index advanced 0.5% to 35,039 points, and the broader Topix index gained 0.3% to 2,592 points.

Brent crude futures for June delivery rose 0.70%, or $0.43, to $66.55 per barrel. The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for June 2025 also increased over 0.80%, or $0.52, to $62.79 per barrel.

Regarding gold, futures prices for June delivery leapt 1.7% to $3,348.60 per ounce.