Oracle Loses $70 Billion in Single Day; Dow Jones Closes Above 48,700 for First Time

U.S. equities closed mixed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 advancing to fresh record highs, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped under pressure from a sharp sell-off in Oracle shares.

Investors continued digesting the Federal Reserve’s latest policy update, in which the central bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points. Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled a pause in further easing, but markets found reassurance in the prospect of two additional potential rate cuts should economic conditions weaken further.

Dow Jones Industrial Average: jumped 1.3%, adding about 640 points to close above 48,700 for the first time in history.

S&P 500: edged up 0.2%, finishing above 6,900, also a record.

Nasdaq Composite: slipped 0.25%, pulling back from a five-week high as tech stocks retreated.

Russell 2000: climbed 1.2%, posting a new all-time closing record as small-cap stocks benefited from interest-rate sensitivity.

Oracle shares plunged 11%, marking their steepest single-day decline in ten months and wiping out nearly $70 billion in market capitalization.

The sell-off came after the company issued quarterly guidance that fell short of analyst expectations. Oracle also warned that annual spending would exceed previous projections by $15 billion, raising concerns that its heavy investment in AI cloud infrastructure is straining cash reserves.

Adding to the pressure, the cost of insuring Oracle’s debt rose sharply as investors grew uneasy about the company’s reliance on leverage. Analysts noted parallels to the early-2000s tech bubble, cautioning that overextended AI spending could pose financial risks if growth expectations fall short.

Walt Disney stock surged 2.4%, hitting a one-month high after the company announced a $1 billion investment in OpenAI.

The deal grants the AI firm access to characters and creative assets from Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel for use in Sora, OpenAI’s advanced video-generation platform. Analysts say the partnership could significantly reshape Hollywood’s production pipeline, speeding up content creation and transforming visual effects workflows.