(Updates with end of trading session)

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Boeing shares fall after Air India plane crash

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Oracle up after raising its annual revenue forecast

By Noel Randewich, Sukriti Gupta

June 12 (Reuters) -

The S&P 500 ended higher on Thursday after a strong outlook

from Oracle fueled optimism around artificial intelligence,

offsetting worries about tension in the Middle East and a drop

in Boeing shares.

Oracle surged to record highs after the cloud service

provider raised its annual revenue growth forecast, driven by

strong demand for its AI-related services.

Heavyweight tech companies Microsoft ( MSFT ), Nvidia ( NVDA )

and Broadcom also gained.

"Oracle is another piece in the mosaic of AI capex spending

and the ongoing need for more compute that feeds into the AI

revolution," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley

Wealth. "When the winds blow in that direction, you're

definitely going to see the key players like Microsoft ( MSFT ) and

Nvidia ( NVDA ) also catch that tailwind."

Boeing fell after an Air India 787-8 Dreamliner jet crashed

minutes after taking off in India's western city of Ahmedabad,

killing more than 200 people.

Signs of rising tensions in the Middle East also weighed on

global markets.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that U.S.

personnel were being moved out of the region as it could be a

"dangerous place" and the United States would not allow Iran to

have a nuclear weapon. Officials from both countries are

scheduled to meet in Oman on Sunday for a sixth round of nuclear

talks.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained

23.19 points, or 0.39%, to end at 6,045.43 points, while the

Nasdaq Composite gained 46.28 points, or 0.24%, to

19,662.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 103.16

points, or 0.24%, to 42,968.93.

U.S.-listed shares of gold miners also advanced, as bullion

prices hit a one-week high.

With Thursday's gain, the S&P 500 remains down about 2% from

its February record high.

Softer-than-expected producer price data and initial jobless

claims numbers pointing to a potential weakening in the labor

market helped reduce investor jitters around tariff-driven price

pressures, while also boosting expectations the U.S. Federal

Reserve will cut interest rates.

Traders project a 60% chance of a 25-basis-point cut by

September, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Fed policymakers are widely expected to keep rates unchanged

at next week's policy meeting.

With investors expecting Trump to reach trade agreements

with several countries in the coming weeks, the benchmark S&P

500 index is about 2% below its February record high.

Goldman Sachs trimmed its U.S. recession probability to 30% from

35% on easing uncertainty around Trump's tariff policies.