US Stocks Add $8.1T in April as Tech, AI Rally

U.S. stocks added about $8.1 trillion in market value in April as a swift return to technology and AI-related names pushed the S&P 500 to a record close and the Nasdaq to its best month since April 2020. The S&P rose 14.2% from its March 30 low over 23 trading days, while the Nasdaq gained 15.29% for the month.

The advance was driven largely by quarterly results and stronger cloud revenue. Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft all beat revenue expectations, and investors moved capital back into growth and AI-linked companies following those reports.

Individual big-cap moves were pronounced. Alphabet jumped about 10% after reporting results and finished April up roughly 34%, its strongest monthly gain since October 2004. Amazon rose about 27% for the month on cloud strength and renewed interest in AI services. Meta Platforms fell about 9% in a single session after announcing higher capital spending but still ended April up close to 7%.

Chipmakers registered some of the largest gains as demand from data centers and AI applications increased. Broadcom rose about 35%, Qualcomm was up nearly 40%, Micron climbed about 53%, and Advanced Micro Devices gained roughly 74%. Nvidia added around 14%. Intel’s shares roughly doubled in April, its best month in more than five decades, as investors focused on new 18A chips from its Arizona plant and a pickup in demand for central processing units. Bank of America projects the CPU market could more than double by 2030.

Macro data and commodity moves added pressure to the rally. Brent crude exceeded $125 a barrel late in the month, and U.S. gasoline averaged about $4 per gallon, raising the prospect of sustained fuel-driven inflation. U.S. GDP grew at a 2.0% annualized rate in the first quarter versus a 2.2% forecast, and investors reduced the size of expected Federal Reserve rate cuts for the year.

Citi raised its rating on U.S. equities to overweight for April. Beata Manthey, Citi’s head of global equities strategy, described tech as “carrying the weight” of the wider market.

Trading in Asia was thinner than usual because of May Day holidays, producing mixed results across regional markets. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.74% to 8,729.80. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.28% to 25,776.53. South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 1.38% to 6,598.87. India’s Nifty 50 lost 0.74% to 23,997.55. China’s Shanghai Composite inched up 0.11% to 4,112.16. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.38% to 59,513.12 and the Topix added 0.04% to 3,728.73. The yen firmed to about 156.56 per dollar after reports that Tokyo intervened in currency markets; earlier in the week it had touched 160.72, its weakest level in two years.

Energy prices, inflation readings and central bank policy were cited by market participants as factors affecting near-term expectations for asset prices.