U.S. stocks rebounded on Wednesday after suffering in the past few sessions, triggered by a tech slump, while investors also looked forward to NVIDIA’s upcoming quarterly results. All three major indexes ended in positive territory.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) climbed 0.1% or 47.03 points, to end at 46,138.77 points.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, or 24.84 points, to close at 6,642.16 points. Tech stocks were the biggest gainers.
The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) advanced 0.7%, while the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) rose 0.3%. Seven of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in negative territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.6%, or 131.38 points, to finish at 22,564.23 points.
The fear gauge, CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), was down 4.17% to 23.66. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.59-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, a 1.54-to-1 ratio favored declining issues. A total of 17.46 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 20.2 billion.
On the Nasdaq, there were 1,846 new highs and 2,851 new lows. On the NYSE, there were 55 new highs and 211 new lows.
Tech Stocks Finally Rebound
Tech stocks finally rebounded on Wednesday in a choppy trading session, with the S&P 500 snapping its four-day losing streak. The rebound came as AI chip darling NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) geared up to report its quarterly results after market close.
Shares of NVIDIA ended 2.9% higher after suffering in the past few sessions. The semiconductor giant had come under pressure lately, creating a ripple effect that saw the broader technology sector take a hit over the past week. NVIDIA has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Rising concerns over the sky-high valuations of AI companies have prompted investors to dump riskier assets and seek refuge in defensive stocks. The concerns come despite a robust demand for AI.
However, the fears were somewhat alleviated ahead of NVIDIA’s earnings, which saw investors once again laying their hands on tech stocks. Another big winner on Wednesday was Alphabet, Inc. (GOOGL), which ended 4.4% higher to hit an all-time high. The jump in Alphabet’s shares comes a day after the search engine giant rolled out Gemini 3, its new generation of AI.
Minutes of Fed Meeting Dent Investors’ Confidence
Economic data have finally started arriving, with the government shutdown ending late last week. The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s meeting were released on Wednesday. The minutes showed that the Fed officials believe lower interest rates could pose a challenge for the nation in its fight against inflation. This has raised uncertainty over another interest rate cut this year after the Fed slashed rates by a quarter percentage point each in September and October.
A slowing labor market has already raised concerns, and investors have been looking forward to Thursday’s release of the September jobs report. However, the government has said that no jobs report for October will be released. Instead, it will come up with a combined nonfarm payrolls report for October and November.
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NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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