The Nasdaq Composite Index rose more than 1% during Thursday's trading session, driven by broad gains among major technology stocks. Intel (INTC.US) advanced nearly 5%, while Tesla (TSLA.US) and Broadcom (AVGO.US) each gained close to 2%. Alphabet (GOOGL.US), Nvidia (NVDA.US), and Microsoft (MSFT.US) all added more than 1%.

On the economic front, data released on August 13 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the July Producer Price Index (PPI) was flat month-over-month, missing expectations for a modest increase. The annual rate dropped from 5.5% in June to 4.7%. Excluding food and energy, core PPI rose 0.2% month-over-month, below the 0.3% forecast, with its year-over-year rate slowing to 4.2%. The weaker-than-expected producer price figures, combined with the previous day's cooling consumer price data, suggest easing inflationary pressures, further dampening market expectations for near-term interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.