Wall Street staged a broad relief rally on Wednesday, with all three major indexes closing solidly higher after a bruising stretch driven by trade-war anxiety and mixed earnings signals. The Nasdaq led the charge, climbing nearly 2% as mega-cap technology names found renewed buying interest. Investors appeared to exhale — at least temporarily — following reports that the White House is open to de-escalating tariff tensions with several key trading partners.
Nvidia was the standout story of the session, rallying more than 5% on news of a significant institutional buy-in and bullish commentary from multiple Wall Street desks ahead of its upcoming earnings report. The move helped lift the broader semiconductor complex, with peers like AMD and Broadcom also posting meaningful gains.
Not everything was celebratory. UnitedHealth Group was the day's clearest casualty, plunging over 8% after the insurance giant cut its 2026 profit forecast due to surging medical utilization rates. The shock warning dragged down rivals Humana and CVS Health as well, weighing on the Dow and keeping the overall mood from turning fully optimistic.
Gold continued its historic run, hovering near $3,318 per ounce as investors kept hedges in place despite the equity bounce. The VIX eased modestly to 26.4 but remains elevated, signaling that traders aren't fully convinced the worst of the volatility is behind us. Oil dipped slightly to $63.80 amid demand uncertainty.