The S&P 500 rose Wednesday as Nvidia reached a major milestone and investors monitored the latest tariff updates from President Donald Trump.
The broad market benchmark climbed 0.61%, ending the session at 6,263.26, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.94% for a record close of 20,611.34. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 217.54 points, or 0.49%, ending at 44,458.30.
Nvidia shares added 1.8% and the chip giant briefly hit a market capitalization of $4 trillion, becoming the first company to do so. Other major tech names also rose — including Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Alphabet — nodding to a rekindling in appetite for the artificial intelligence theme.
Those moves came as traders seemingly downplayed the latest tariff-related headlines of the week.
On Wednesday, Trump sent letters dictating new U.S. tariff rates on goods from at least six more countries, including the Philippines and Iraq. This comes after Trump posted letters setting new duties earlier this week to the leaders of 14 other countries, including South Korea and Japan.
On Tuesday, the president said in a Truth Social post that there would be no change or extensions on the raft of duties he announced this week. The new tariff rates range from 20% to 40% and are set to begin on Aug. 1.
Trump on Tuesday also announced a 50% levy on copper imports and hinted that further sector-specific tariffs will soon be announced. He threatened Tuesday afternoon to impose up to 200% tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S., but said he will “give people about a year, year and a half” until the duties go into effect.
“The market is just shrugging these tariff threats off and presuming that there is room for deals and negotiations to be made,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird, in an interview with CNBC. “I think that the extension of the deadlines to Aug. 1 — and the occasional comment that those deadlines could even be kicked out farther — is an admission that there’s a deal-making appetite, and the market is clearly going to run with that until proven otherwise.”
Mayfield continued: “Because if the counter were true, I don’t think we would be anywhere near all-time highs.”
source: cnbc.com
