The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, the Nasdaq gained 0.3%, and the Dow Jones added about 70 points on Wednesday, extending the previous session’s advance. Both the S&P and Nasdaq have returned to their pre-war levels, while the Dow is trading near its early-March highs.
Investors remain focused on developments in the Middle East, amid expectations that a second round of talks between the US and Iran could take place soon, even as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains constrained. At the same time, attention is increasingly shifting toward corporate earnings.
Bank of America climbed 2.5% after reporting higher first-quarter profits, and Morgan Stanley surged more than 5% on record revenue. PNC shares gained 1% despite revenue coming in below expectations. Broadcom advanced about 2.5%, and Meta added 0.8% after Meta said it had agreed to deploy 1 gigawatt of custom AI chips built with Broadcom technology.
Other mega-cap stocks were mostly higher as well, including Nvidia (up 0.6%), Apple (0.4%), Microsoft (2.1%), and Tesla (0.8%).
