US stocks end with gains, led by tech rebound

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US stocks ended higher Tuesday, bolstered by a rebound in tech shares following steep declines in recent days due to AI disruption fears.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.76%, or 370.44 points, to 49,174.50.

The Nasdaq gained 1.04%, or 236.41 points, to 22,863.68, while the S&P 500 added 0.77%, or 52.32 points, to reach 6,890.07.

The Volatility Index (VIX), also known as the "fear index," fell 6.95% to 19.55.

Investors focused on the increases in the tech sector and US President Donald Trump's new global tariffs.

AMD shares surged 8.8% after Meta unveiled a multiyear agreement with the chipmaker to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs across its AI data centers.

As part of the deal, Meta will receive a performance-based warrant to purchase up to 160 million AMD shares.

The announcement followed Meta’s statement last week that it is using millions of Nvidia chips in its data center expansion; Nvidia shares were up 0.7%.

DocuSign also gained 2.6% after Anthropic revealed that its Claude Cowork can now integrate with DocuSign and other workplace tools such as Google Drive and Gmail.

The update fueled investor optimism that AI could enhance, rather than replace, software platforms.

That sentiment lifted other software names, with Salesforce rising 4.1% and ServiceNow advancing 1.7%.

Meanwhile, after the Supreme Court ruled last week that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to impose tariffs, the 10% global tariff announced by President Trump under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act took effect today.

Although Trump has said he plans to raise the tariff rate to 15%, no formal decision has yet been implemented.

In addition, FedEx, a US-based cargo and logistics company that took action regarding the refund of tariffs found to be illegal, sued the federal government, demanding the return of customs duties.

Statements from US Federal Reserve officials are also being followed, with Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee saying they need to be sure that inflation has returned to the 2% target before making further interest rate cuts to stimulate the economy.

On the data side, US house prices rose 0.1% on a monthly basis in December, below expectations, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index in the country rose to 91.2 in February, exceeding market expectations.