Wall Street Opens Higher as Google Unveils New AI Direction—Nasdaq Jumps 1.4%

(New York=Yonhap Infomax) Jeong Ho Jin—The three major U.S. stock indices showed mixed performance by sector in early trading, with technology shares leading gains while traditional industries and blue chips lagged.

Alphabet Inc. surged over 6% after Google launched Gemini 3.0, receiving widespread acclaim and driving momentum across the tech sector. In contrast, traditional industrials and blue-chip stocks saw relatively subdued activity.

As of November 24 (U.S. Eastern Time) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE):

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 6.40 points (0.01%) to 46,239.01.
• The S&P 500 rose 43.68 points (0.66%) to 6,646.67.
• The Nasdaq Composite jumped 313.39 points (1.41%) to 22,586.47.

Despite some market participants leaving early for the Thanksgiving holiday, trading remained active, particularly in technology shares. Positive sentiment around Google’s Gemini 3.0 artificial intelligence (AI) model continued to lift the broader tech sector.

Notably, reactions from competitors further boosted Alphabet’s stock. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, commented after experiencing Gemini 3.0, “Now we’re the ones catching up,” acknowledging a challenging outlook for his firm in the near term. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also took the unusual step of congratulating Google on his X account, recognizing Gemini’s achievements.

The success of Gemini 3.0 is seen as a potential game-changer for the AI industry. Previously, AI tools centered around OpenAI were heavily reliant on Nvidia’s GPUs, raising concerns over high acquisition, maintenance, and depreciation costs. In contrast, Google has built its Gemini system around its proprietary Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), significantly reducing external expenditures. As the only major tech firm to vertically integrate both AI hardware and software, Google is viewed as setting a new milestone in the industry landscape.

Alphabet’s market capitalization surpassed $3.62 trillion, overtaking Microsoft’s $3.51 trillion to become the third-largest company by market value in the U.S. stock market.

Meanwhile, Microsoft, with significant exposure to Nvidia and OpenAI, saw weaker investor sentiment amid Gemini’s rise. Nvidia shares fell 0.61%, while Microsoft declined 0.75%.

Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce, remarked, “I’ve used ChatGPT daily for three years, but only spent two hours with Gemini 3.0—and everything from reasoning to speed, image, and video is sharper and faster. It’s a remarkable leap forward, and I won’t be going back [to ChatGPT].”

By sector, technology gained 1.21%, communications soared 3.46%, and consumer discretionary advanced 2.04%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also surged 3.30% on Gemini’s momentum. While Nvidia was little changed, Broadcom jumped 7.48%, AMD rose 4.33%, and Micron Technology climbed 7.11%. Broadcom is a key Google partner in TPU manufacturing, and the divergence between Nvidia’s weakness and Broadcom’s strength signals a potential shift in market dynamics.

Eli Lilly fell 0.33%, consolidating after surpassing a $1 trillion market cap for the first time last week.

European markets were mixed. The Euro Stoxx 50 was up 0.25% at 5,528.67, the UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.07%, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.05%, and Germany’s DAX rose 0.66%.

Crude oil prices were little changed. At the same time, front-month January West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures edged down 0.12% to $57.98 per barrel.

jhjin@yna.co.kr

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