WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After failing to sustain an early rally, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Wednesday before eventually ending the day mostly higher. The major averages all closed in positive territory after spending the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed up 131.38 points or 0.6 percent at 22,564.23 but had surged by as much as 1.7 percent in early trading. The S&P 500 also rose 24.84 points or 0.4 percent to 6,642.16, while the narrower Dow inched up 47.03 points or 0.1 percent to 46,138.77.
The early strength on Wall Street came as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the significant weakness seen over the past few sessions.
The major averages slumped to their lowest closing levels in a month on Tuesday amid lingering concerns about a potential AI bubble.
Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of earnings news from market leader and AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) after the close of today's trading.
Ahead of the release of its third quarter results, Nvidia jumped by 2.9 percent after ending the previous session at its lowest closing level in almost a month.
'Nvidia reports tonight and the slightest bit of news to disappoint investors has the potential to whip up a tornado across global markets,' said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. 'Investors will be hanging on [CEO] Jensen Huang's every word and looking for clues that big investment in AI is worth it.'
'Huang is an eternal optimist and Nvidia has a habit of smashing earnings expectations,' he added. 'Therefore, investors might be digging deeper than usual into the numbers to spot any signs of weakness, rather than simply being swayed by the headline narrative.'
Stocks continued to show a lack of direction after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting revealed officials had mixed views about the outlook for interest rates.
The minutes of the Fed's October 28-29 meeting said participants expressed 'strongly differing views' about what policy decision would most likely be appropriate at the central bank's next meeting on December 9-10.
While the Fed said most participants agreed that it would be appropriate to eventually lower rates, several indicated that they did not necessarily view another 25 basis point rate cut as likely to be appropriate at the December meeting.
Others assessed that a further lowering of rates could be appropriate in December if the economy evolved about as they expected, although 'many participants' suggested that it would likely be appropriate to keep rates unchanged for the rest of the year, the Fed said.
Sector News
Semiconductor stocks showed a strong move back to the upside following recent weakness, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing by 1.8 percent after ending Tuesday's trading at its lowest closing level in over month.
Considerable strength was also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.
On the other hand, energy stocks moved sharply lower along with the price of crude oil, dragging the NYSE Arca Oil Index down by 1.7 percent.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dipped by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside over the course of the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries showed a lack of direction before eventually closing slightly lower. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by 1.0 basis point to 4.133 percent.
Looking Ahead
Reaction to Nvidia's earnings news is likely to drive trading on Thursday, although the September jobs report may also attract attention.
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