U.S. Stocks End Wednesday in Green

(MENAFN) U.S. equities closed firmly in the green Wednesday, with investors piling into technology and financial stocks in anticipation of a marquee earnings release from chip giant Nvidia after the closing bell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 307.65 points, or 0.63 percent, to finish at 49,482.15. The S&P 500 gained 56.06 points, or 0.81 percent, settling at 6,946.13, while the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 288.4 points, or 1.26 percent, to close at 23,152.08.

The session’s gains were far from uniform. Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in negative territory, with industrials and real estate bearing the steepest losses — down 0.79 percent and 0.69 percent, respectively. Technology surged 1.79 percent to lead all sectors, with financials close behind at 1.68 percent.

Nvidia itself rose 1.41 percent in regular trading ahead of its fiscal fourth-quarter results, which were released alongside earnings from enterprise software companies Salesforce and Snowflake. The report arrived under an intensifying spotlight, as investors grapple with mounting questions about the sustainability of artificial intelligence capital spending by major cloud providers and whether lofty tech valuations remain defensible.

Elsewhere in the technology space, the session produced some eye-catching moves. Super Micro Computer jumped 7.93 percent, Western Digital surged 7.53 percent, and AppLovin advanced 7.22 percent, all outpacing the broader market by a wide margin.

The session’s standout performer, however, was Circle Internet Group — issuer of the USDC stablecoin — whose shares rocketed more than 35.47 percent after the company reported a sharp jump in fourth-quarter revenue.

Not all earnings winners were rewarded. Lowe’s slipped despite surpassing Wall Street estimates on both earnings and revenue, as the home improvement retailer’s forward guidance disappointed analysts and weighed on the stock.

On the policy front, President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday evening, touting economic strength and unveiling a proposal for a new government-backed retirement savings vehicle for American workers. Trump also renewed his push to bar large institutional investors from acquiring single-family homes, returning to a theme centered on housing affordability.

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