By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The Nasdaq continued its record streak Thursday, led by a chip-fueled jump in tech following a slew of positive quarterly earnings.

Nasdaq rose 0.94% after previously reaching a record 15,961.4. It rose by 0.16% to 4,682.55, an all-time record. It was 0.45% lower, 162 points.

The broader tech market was lifted by a chip-led rally that followed a rise in Nvidia and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:).

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:) jumped more than 13% after {{NVIDIA (NASDAQ) rose more than 13% following 0|Wells)) Fargo hiked its price target on the stock to $320 per share from $245, on expectations demand the chipmaker’s open virtual platform, Omniverse, is set to benefit from the potential metaverse opportunity.

After ignoring the chip storage issue, Qualcomm (NASDAQ) saw a more than 12 percent increase. This was in spite of disappointing fiscal fourth quarter results.

Over 3% of the iShares Semiconductor ETF NASDAQ: climbed on this day

After reporting results in the third quarter that exceeded Wall Street expectations, consumer discretionary stocks also ranked among the best-performing segments. This was attributed to Etsy’s 14% increase (NASDAQ:).

Q4 revenues for arts and crafts platforms ranged from $660 million-$690 million. That’s just short of the estimates for $693.74,000,000. Management commentary about the small impact of supply-chain problems in the lead up to holidays supported investor sentiment.

Wedbush stated in a note that management noted that Etsy’s 90% sellers source their materials locally, which will help to limit inventory shortages. It also allows Etsy to take advantage of out-of-stock products from larger retailers.

Domino’s Pizza (NYSE:), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:), Ford Motor (NYSE:) were also among the biggest sector gainers, with the latter up more than 3% after detailing plans to repurchase $5 billion in junk bonds in a bid to strengthen its balance sheet and restore its credit rating.

A host of more than expected quarterly results were compared Moderna (NASDAQ:) was one of those notable exceptions. Earnings and revenue both fell below estimates by 19%. This drug company lowered its Covid-19 sales forecast for this year.

Merck & Inc (NYSE:) rose 1% after it its Covid-19 pill received approval in the UK.

However, the market gained little from a slide in financials and falling bank stocks.

After the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday signal that they would not rush to raise rates, despite its plans to taper monthly bond purchases later in the month, bank stocks fell.  

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:), People’s United Financial (NASDAQ:), and Lincoln National (NYSE:) were down sharply, with latter down more than 6%.

Energy prices were pressured after the OPEC+ alliance decided to keep the existing production plan despite President Joe Biden’s calls to increase production in an effort to reduce the rise in energy prices.

Investor optimism was sparked by the fact that jobless claims declined more than predicted, fueling investor optimism regarding a possible recovery in the labor markets just 24 hours before the nonfarm payroll report on Friday.