Stock markets advanced Thursday, as tech shares jumped following AI-chips giant Nvidia’s announcement of a $5 billion investment in struggling US rival Intel, and as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s first interest rate cut of 2025.The tech-heavy Nasdaq led gains on Wall Street, with Intel shares soaring nearly 23 percent and Nvidia gaining more than three percent.All three major US indices finished at fresh records.The dollar gained against other major currencies.”Even if Intel needs handouts from its peers in Silicon Valley, investors like it,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading platform XTB.Under the Nvidia-Intel deal, the companies will jointly develop chips for PCs and data centers.The deal comes on the heels of the United States taking a 10-percent stake in Intel, which has fallen behind in recent years after missing key technology shifts.The move propelled shares of other tech firms. In Europe, shares in ASML, a Dutch company that makes the machines used to produce semiconductors, surged more than seven percent.Other US semiconductor names were mixed. Micron jumped 5.6 percent while Advanced Micro Devices dropped 0.8 percent.Investors were also reacting to Wednesday’s US central bank decision to lower rates by 25 basis points.US stocks had finished mixed Wednesday over uncertainty about the path forward following the Fed’s announcement.But the mood changed Thursday, with investors confident that more cuts are coming this year, analysts said.”Markets are betting policymakers will continue to prioritize jobs over inflation, even with headline prices still running hot,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com.The decision to cut came even as US inflation runs well above policymakers’ two-percent target, but analysts said the main focus was on the jobs market.Fed policymakers are split between those who expect at least two interest rate cuts later this year and those who anticipate one or fewer.Fed boss Jerome Powell remained cagey, telling reporters decision-makers were approaching it “meeting by meeting.”Paris and Frankfurt stocks were up around one percent in afternoon deals, with German sentiment buoyed by a central bank statement saying Germany should dodge a technical recession in the immediate future.London rose less enthusiastically as the Bank of England kept its main interest rate at four percent in the face of the UK’s stubbornly high inflation, which stands at 3.8 percent.While Britain’s interest rate was kept unchanged, Norway’s central bank cut borrowing costs on Thursday, after a similar move by Canada on Wednesday.In Asia, investors were in a cautious mood on Thursday.Shanghai stocks retreated overall, and Hong Kong’s session also ended in the red.Tokyo closed in the green as the Fed decision boosted the dollar against the yen, helping Japanese exporters.- Key figures at around 2050 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 46,142.42 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 6,631.96 (close)New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.2 percent at 22,470.73 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,228.11 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.9 percent at 7,854.61 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.4 percent at 23,674.53 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 45,303.43 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.2 percent at 3,831.66 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.4 percent at 26,544.85 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1785 from $1.1813 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3550 from $1.3626Dollar/yen: UP at 147.97 yen from 146.99 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.96  pence from 86.69 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.8 percent at $63.57 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 at $67.44 per barrel

US Democratic lawmakers said Thursday they plan to introduce legislation to protect free speech, arguing that President Donald Trump is seeking to censor opponents, especially since the murder of Charlie Kirk.The death of Kirk — a right-wing activist who was shot dead during a public event in Utah last week — was “a national tragedy” that “should have been an opportunity for President Trump to bring this country together,” Senator Chris Murphy told a news conference in Washington.”But Trump and his lieutenants are choosing to exploit this tragedy to destroy Donald Trump’s political opposition,” Murphy said, citing the example of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show.Kimmel’s show was indefinitely suspended by ABC after he accused Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement of seeking to exploit Kirk’s death for political points.”That’s censorship. That’s state speech control. That’s not America,” said Murphy.The planned legislation “creates a specific defense for those that are being targeted for political reasons” and “builds real consequences for government officials when they use the power of the government to target speech that is protected by the First Amendment,” he said.Senator Alex Padilla listed various recent developments as causes for concern.”An attorney general who is vowing to prosecute Americans for what she alone deems hate speech. A president who threatens a reporter with prosecution for asking a question about that,” Padilla said.”And Donald Trump personally suing The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for publishing stories that he doesn’t like,” he said.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that “one of the great hallmarks of our country is free speech,” accusing Trump’s administration of “trying to snuff it out.””They don’t want people to even speak when they don’t like what they say,” Schumer said, warning: “That is the road to autocracy.”