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Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq climb amid strong bank earnings, rate-cut hopes


US stocks rose on Wednesday amid hopes for interest-rate cuts, with more Wall Street banks posting strong results in a promising start to earnings season.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved up roughly 0.2%, following a rocky session on Tuesday for markets. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) added about 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively.

A solid start to earnings season is buoying market spirits in the face of US-China trade friction and a US government shutdown with no end in sight.

On Wednesday morning, Bank of America (BAC) posted a 23% jump in profit, becoming the latest big US bank to benefit from this summer’s bonanza of big deals on Wall Street. Morgan Stanley (MS) saw its profits surge 45% in what its CEO hailed as an “outstanding” quarter.

Meanwhile, comments from Jerome Powell also provided a boost. The Federal Reserve Chair said Wednesday that “downside risks to employment appear to have risen,” implying more rate cuts are on the cards. Investors closely scrutinized Powell’s remarks, given the current lack of insight into the economy as the federal stoppage delays the release of key data.

Investors have cemented bets on a rate cut later this month, and odds of a rate cut in December have jumped in recent days to around 96%. The Fed’s Beige Book summary of economic conditions could capture attention on its release due at 2 p.m. ET.

The US-China trade tensions that have unsettled markets continued to bubble, after President Trump said he was considering an embargo on cooking oil from China in response to its cut in purchases of US soybeans. The threat follows China’s fresh sanctions on five US subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday raised hopes on that front, saying Trump was still planning to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month.

At the same time, the Trump administration is preparing for the government shutdown to drag on. A list of federal programs earmarked for cuts is expected this week, and the White House budget office is scrambling to find ways to pay military members and law enforcement.

LIVE 15 updates

  • Laura Bratton

    Australian stocks benefit from US-China trade war

    Some Australian stocks are benefiting from the US-China trade war.

    Cooking oil producer Australian Oilseeds (COOT) saw its stock rise about 260% to $3.48 after President Trump threatened to cut off US business with Chinese producers.

    “I believe that China purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers, is an Economically Hostile Act,” he said in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. “We are considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution.”

    Meanwhile, shares of Australian miners with critical minerals projects such as Nova Minerals (NVA) and Resolution Minerals Ltd. (RML.AX) ripped higher on Tuesday as the companies were set to play a role in talks between the Australian government and the Trump administration as the US looks to diversify its critical minerals and rare earths supply chain from China.

  • Laura Bratton

    United Airlines earnings preview: Premium, corporate spending in focus as rival Delta takes off

    Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

    Read the full story here.

  • Laura Bratton

    Apple stock rises as tech giant unveils new M5 chip alongside upgraded 14-inch MacBook Pro and iPad Pro

    Apple (AAPL) shares climbed 1.4% as the company unveiled new products and tech stocks led a broader advance in US equities.

    Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:

    Read the full story here.

  • Gold continues to hit record highs

    Gold (GC=F) continued to topple record highs, with futures climbing another 1% to trade at over $4,211 an ounce on Wednesday and spot prices trading around $4,163, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Silver (SI=F) also rose over 1% to $51 per ounce as investors continue to pile into hard assets.

    The run-up in gold and silver has led some market watchers to suggest the precious metals may be overvalued. Though others on Wall Street still see room to run.

    As Yahoo Finance’s Jake Conley reports, if just half a percent of US assets held by foreign investors were to be moved into gold, the yellow metal could hit $6,000 per ounce, JPMorgan analysts said.

    Weighing in on the recent moves separately, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said on Tuesday that he understood why gold is attractive right now — though he refrained from commenting on whether the metal may be overbought.

    “I’m not a gold buyer — it costs 4% to own it,” Dimon said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women conference, per Bloomberg. “It could easily go to $5,000, $10,000 in environments like this. This is one of the few times in my life it’s semi-rational to have some in your portfolio.”

    Read more here.

  • Laura Bratton

    Stocks jump at the open

    US stocks climbed on Wednesday at the market open.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved up roughly 0.4%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) added 1%, reversing the prior day’s loss, when the tech-heavy index led stocks down during a rocky session.

    The major US indexes are gaining as earnings season kicks off with strong results from Wall Street banks and as investor hopes grow for further interest rate-cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.

  • Laura Bratton

    Nvidia stock rises amid HSBC upgrade, latest AI deal

    Nvidia (NVDA) shares rose 2% premarket on Wednesday as HSBC (HSBC) analyst Frank Lee upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold.

    Lee said he expects the market for Nvidia’s AI chips to keep growing beyond its Big Tech customers — pointing to the Stargate AI projects in the US and abroad and OpenAI’s (OPAI.PVT) recent deal with Nvidia — “leading to continuous earnings growth” for the chipmaker. Lee raised his price target on shares to $320 from $200.

    Also boosting Nvidia’s shares was the company’s participation in another multibillion-dollar deal in the AI space. An investor consortium called the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), which includes the AI chip giant, BlackRock (BLK), Microsoft (MSFT), and Elon Musk’s xAIm said it will acquire 100% of the equity in data center company Aligned Data Centers. The transaction would value Aligned Data Centers at roughly $40 billion.

    AIP’s investment is the latest in a tangled web of AI deals involving vendors of AI infrastructure investing in their own customers, and vice versa — a circular dynamic that analysts warn is contributing to a stock market bubble.

  • Bitcoin modestly rises as the crypto resets

    Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rose 0.5% on Wednesday morning, trading at around $112,009 per token, following a steep 5% loss the day before as US-China tensions reescalated and Fed Chair Powell implied that more rate cuts were possible.

    As my colleague Hamza Shaban wrote in today’s Morning Brief newsletter, after the crypto had been set up for a strong October, investors are now resetting their speculative bets.

    Read more here.

  • Jenny McCall

    Dollar Tree gains after projecting earnings growth through 2028

    Dollar Tree’s (DLTR) stock rose 8% before the bell on Wednesday after the retailer announced at its Investor Day that it expects earnings per share to gain as much as 10% annually over the next three years. The company said that despite higher traffic from consumers that can afford to spend more, tariffs still present a problem.

    Bloomberg News reports:

    Read more here.

  • Wall Street boom boosts profits at Bank of America

    Bank of America shares popped in premarket trading after the big bank reported a rise in profit, dealmaking and trading that outperformed analysts’ expectations.

    Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports:

    Read more here.

  • Jenny McCall

    Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.

  • Jenny McCall

    Premarket trending tickers: AMD, MP Materials and Tesla

    Here’s a look at some of the top stocks trending in premarket trading:

    AMD (AMD) stock rose more than 2% in premarket trading on Wednesday. It was announced on Tuesday that Oracle would deploy more than 50,000 of AMD AI chips.

    MP Materials Corp. (MP) stock fell 3% before the bell on Wednesday following the prior days trading when it closed 3%. The rare earth company is in focus right now as China impose export restrictions on their rare earths and investors look to alternative firms.

    Tesla (TSLA) stock rose 1% in premarket trading on Wednesday. A report this week from Kelly Brook stated that sticker prices for US cars have now reached $50k for the first time.

  • ‘Absolutely’ a market bubble: Wall Street sounds the alarm on AI-driven boom as investors go all in

    Wall Street is growing louder with warnings that the artificial intelligence trade may be overheating, writes Yahoo Finance’s Allie Canal.

    She reports:

    After months of record gains in AI-linked stocks and corporate spending, concerns are mounting that the boom is starting to look like a bubble.

    JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon underscored that tone of caution while speaking to reporters on Tuesday, calling elevated asset prices “a category of concern.”

    “When asset prices are elevated, you have further to fall,” Dimon said, adding that while “consumers are still spending [and] companies are making money,” valuations and credit spreads remain stretched.

    “You have a lot of assets out there which look like they’re entering bubble territory,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t have 20% to go — it’s just one more cause of concern.”

    That caution comes as new sentiment data shows investor exuberance reaching extremes.

    Bank of America’s latest Global Fund Manager Survey, released Tuesday, cited an “AI equity bubble” as the top global tail risk for the first time in its history. …

    Another early warning sign: Correlations across sectors have fallen to their lowest level since the current bull market began. Colas said these “unusually low” readings tend to appear when investor confidence runs “too high” and is a pattern that often precedes short-term pullbacks.

    Read more here.

  • LVMH stock jumps after surprise return to sales growth

    LVMH (MC.PA, LVMUY) unexpectedly reported a return to sales growth in its third quarter earnings, a sign the decline in luxury demand is easing.

    Paris-listed shares of the owner of Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior rose as much as 14% — the biggest intraday gain since 2001 — while its US-listed stock jumped around 9% in premarket.

    Reuters reports:

    Read more here.

  • Global AI rush helps ASML post orders beat, but China outlook dims

    ASML’s (ASML, ASML.AS) orders topped estimates in the third quarter amid an AI investment boom, and the Dutch maker of chipmaking equipment said it expects to keep benefiting.

    Shares rose over 3% in premarket trading even after ASML also warned it expects Chinese demand to drop significantly next year,

    Reuters reports:

    Read more here.

  • Gold notches new record

    Gold (GC=F) hit a new record, bolstered by the ongoing US-China trade spat alongside comments from the Fed giving investors hope for a rate cut later in the year.

    Bloomberg reports:

    Read more here.



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