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The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 50,000 points for the first time on Friday as investors rallied in response to a rout in tech stocks earlier in the week.

The closely watched index rose above 50,000 for the first time after 2 p.m. during Friday’s trading session after rising more than 1,000 points on the day, which represents a gain of more than 2.2%.

President Donald Trump celebrated the news in a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon.

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“The Dow Jones Industrial Average just hit 50,000 for the first time in History. CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!” Trump wrote.

Chip stocks surged on expectations they would benefit from increased spending on artificial intelligence (AI) data centers by Amazon and Google parent company Alphabet.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 50,000 points for the first time Friday. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Shares in Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom all rose by more than 7%. Amazon’s stock fell nearly 7% after announcing it planned to ramp up capital expenditures by more than 50% this year amid the AI race after a similar announcement by Alphabet Wednesday.

Friday’s rallies in the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq followed three consecutive days of losses amid worries about AI.

“Market sentiment improved after today’s positive report out of the University of Michigan,” said Jeffrey Roach, LPL Financial chief economist. “Median 1-year inflation expectations hit the lowest since January 2025, providing some comfort for investors eager to see improving inflation metrics.”

Several software companies saw stock declines amid investors’ concerns that competition in the AI space could hurt their margins as well as questions about whether valuations have become excessive amid the AI boom.

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“This trade has been volatile, and there have been selloffs at times, but I think there’s enough evidence that there’s real demand for AI products, real promise with what they can do and a necessity of a lot of spending to get there,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.

“So, when there’s this kind of a sell-off, I think there’s a floor where there’s going to be a certain set of investors that steps in and starts buying these names.”

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Shares in Nvidia and other chipmakers surged amid expectations of continued investment in AI. (Loren Elliott/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The S&P 500 index, which is viewed as more broadly representative of the U.S. market, was up 1.76% at 6,917 points.

Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by the information technology index’s gain of more than 3.7% and a nearly 2.7% gain by the index for industrials.

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The S&P was about 1% below its record-high close that was set last week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down about 4% from its record high close last October.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Federal regulators are expanding an investigation into 1.27 million Ford F-150 pickup trucks after reports of safety issues related to the vehicles’ transmissions.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it received reports from drivers that the trucks faced an unexpected transmission downshift that came without warning or driver input. The auto regulator said drivers reported that the issue was often accompanied by a temporary rear-wheel lockup or skidding that increases the risk of a crash.

The probe covers model years 2015-2017 F-150 trucks equipped with “6R80” transmissions. The F-150 is the perennial best-selling pickup truck in the U.S.

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A model year 2015-2017 Ford F-150 pickup truck at Ford’s Rouge Center. (Ford Motor Co.)

NHTSA’s investigation follows a preliminary evaluation that it opened on March 21, 2025, after receiving complaints about the 6R80 transmission.

In its response to NHTSA’s information request, Ford said the alleged defect in the 2015–2017 F-150s differs from the issue that prompted four safety recalls covering 2011–2014 models.

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Ford added the earlier recalls were caused by manufacturing problems with a part supplied by an outside vendor, which led to loss of signals from a speed sensor.

The automaker said the alleged defect in the newer vehicles could be caused by electrical connections wearing down due to thermal cycling and vibration over an extended time in service, leading to signal loss from the transmission range sensor (TRS).

FOX Business reached out to Ford for comment.

The investigation covers model years 2015-2017 F-150 pickup trucks. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation also identified another potential safety defect related to the alleged issue with the TRS. In preliminary testing, the agency found that vehicles suffering TRS signal loss while moving up an incline while in reverse could shift into neutral, causing the vehicle to roll forward.

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ODI said it had opened an engineering analysis to conduct further testing and review additional technical data.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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