Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday, extending its tech-led rally and touching two-week highs as worries over artificial intelligence disruption and costs took a back seat to renewed optimism over the nascent technology’s potential benefits.All three major U.S. stock indexes advanced, with the Nasdaq, powered by chips, enjoying the largest percentage gain as markets near the end of a tumultuous month that was marked by concerns over massive investment in AI infrastructure and the extent to which it could disrupt myriad industries.
Nvidia, at the forefront of the AI revolution, reported fourth-quarter revenue of $68.13 billion, beating analyst estimates. Its shares were up about 3% in extended trading. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX gained 1.6% ahead of Nvidia’s NVDA.O earnings. The S&P Software & Services index .SPLRCIS , bouncing back from its 23% year-to-date slump, was a clear outperformer, jumping 2.9%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 307.65 points, or 0.63%, to 49,482.15, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 56.06 points, or 0.81%, to 6,946.13 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 288.40 points, or 1.26%, to 23,152.08. Among the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, tech stocks .SPLRCT led the percentage gainers, while industrials .SPLRCI suffered the steepest loss.
Axon Enterprise AXON.O jumped 17.6% after the Taser-maker beat fourth-quarter profit estimates. Both First Solar FSLR.O and Lowe’s Companies LOW.N provided weaker-than-expected annual sales guidance, sending their shares down 13.6% and 5.6%, respectively. After Lowe’s disappointing report, housing .HGX and homebuilders .SPCOMHOME were clear underperformers, down 3% and 3.7% respectively, despite the 30-year fixed mortgage contract rate dipping to a 3-1/2-year low last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
On the staples side, alcohol producers with Brown-Forman BFb.N off 7.6% and Molson Coors TAP.N down 4.8%, after London-listed Johnnie Walker and Guinness maker Diageo DGE.L projected a 2% to 3% organic sales decline in 2026 and cut its interim dividend in half.
GoDaddy GDDY.N tumbled 14.3% after the internet services provider forecast annual revenue below Wall Street expectations. Considering recent volatility in software stocks, results from Salesforce CRM.N , Intuit INTU.O and Snowflake SNOW.N will likely be subject to added scrutiny.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.78-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 635 new highs and 98 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 3,148 stocks rose and 1,557 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.02-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 50 new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 127 new highs and 94 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 17.50 billion shares, compared with the 20.27 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. S&P 500 poised to gain 10% by year-end, but trade, AI disruption concerns persist [see story]
Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Rod Nickel.
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