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Dell climbs after multiple price target hikes

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US-listed shares of gold miners jump

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Joby Aviation ( JOBY ) descends on pricing stock offering

(Updates to market close)

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Technology shares boosted

U.S. stocks to a higher close on Wednesday as investors, lacking

economic data during the government shutdown, looked to minutes

from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting for clues

to the outlook for interest rate cuts through year-end.

The tech-laden Nasdaq was out front, boosted by the

artificial intelligence-related megacaps that have led market

gains so far this year.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq eked out new all-time closing

highs.

Chip stocks were clear outperformers, while energy

, consumer staples and homebuilders

were the laggards, as a report from the Mortgage

Bankers Association showed home loan demand dipped 4.7% last

week despite easing interest rates.

"The theme continues to be aggressive growth, with a

constant supply of deal announcements, one after the other that

are related to the AI space," said Bill Merz, head of Capital

Market Research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, Minneapolis.

"Anything attached to AI is garnering a significant

amount of attention."

Amid continuing euphoria surrounding AI, mounting U.S. and

geopolitical uncertainty has pushed gold prices above the

$4,000 per ounce threshold as investors flock to the safe-haven

metal as a hedge against growing risks.

"We've seen in the last few years that stocks and safe

havens can work in conjunction with each other," Merz added. "A

part of that comes from this dual reality that ... fundamentals,

for now, are supporting higher than normal valuation, and

simultaneously, deficit spending has to be financed by

additional debt."

The U.S. government shutdown entered its eighth day, and

a congressional stalemate appeared to suggest market

participants will lack official economic indicators for the

immediate future, leaving markets with little to go on until

third-quarter earnings season kicks off next week.

In the absence of data, investors looked to third-quarter

earnings season to get underway next week and the minutes from

the September meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee

(FOMC) for clues as to the central bank's intentions regarding

interest rate cuts.

Those minutes showed a divided committee, with policymakers

concerned about rising labor market risks but still wary of

inflation. And while "most judged that it likely would be

appropriate to ease policy further over the remainder of this

year," the timing and pace of further moves remained an open

question.

"The topical discussion is about the extent of Fed cuts

and how restrictive or not policy is," said Zachary Hill, head

of portfolio management at Horizon Investments in Charlotte,

North Carolina. "More broadly, the Fed is definitely not in a

great position without public sector economic data as (the

shutdown) continues to drag on, which really just makes

policymakers' already challenging job even tougher."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500

gained 39.58 points, or 0.58%, to end at 6,753.48 points,

while the Nasdaq Composite gained 255.02 points, or

1.11%, to 23,041.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 5.68 points, or 0.01%, to 46,608.66.

Datadog ( DDOG ) rose after Bernstein raised its price

target on the cloud security firm, while Intercontinental

Exchange ( ICE ) fell after Barclays cut its price target on the

stock.

Fair Isaac Corp ( FICO ) fell after credit bureau Equifax ( EFX )

said it plans to offer cheaper mortgage credit scores.

Surging gold prices helped U.S.-listed shares of gold miners

Newmont ( NEM ) and Gold Fields gain ground.

Dell jumped after multiple brokerages raised their

price targets for the stock.

Freeport-McMoRan ( FCX ) advanced in the wake of Citigroup's

upgrade to "buy" from "neutral".

Joby Aviation ( JOBY ) slid after the electric air taxi maker on

Tuesday priced a $514 million share sale at a 10.9% discount to

its last closing price.

AMD extended its gains for the third consecutive

day.