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The S&P 500 hovered near the flatline on Wednesday as Wall Street digested a strong start to the week that pushed the benchmark S&P 500 into the green for the year.
The Dow Jones Industrials fizzled 89.37 points to close Wednesday at 42,051.06.
The much-broader index inched up 6.03 points to 5,892.58
The NASDAQ Composite rocketed 136.72 points to 19,146.81
Technology stocks outperformed. Shares of Nvidia advanced more than 3%, following news that it would send Saudi Arabia 18,000 of its top artificial intelligence chips. Peer chip stock AMD also rose more than 4% on the back of a $6-billion buyback.
Week to date, the S&P 500 has muscled up 4% and the Dow is up more than 1%, The NASDAQ has soared more than 6%.
This week’s pop also put the S&P 500 in positive territory for the year. At one point, the S&P 500 was more than 20% below its record high set in February. Since hitting that April 7 intraday low, the benchmark is up more than 21%.
Risk appetite grew this week after the U.S. and China temporarily slashed tariffs on a wide array of goods. The U.S. reduced tariffs on China to 30% earlier this week, while China lowered its own levies to 10% on U.S. imports. Both nations had threatened in April to impose tariffs above 100% on the other.
The tentative agreement between the world’s biggest economies has led investors to hope it will eventually yield a more concrete trade agreement. China and the U.S. have not yet agreed to specific terms for a deal, however, and Trump said this week that a final agreement wouldn’t happen quickly.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury swooned, raising yields to 4.53% from Tuesday’s 4.49%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 82 cents to $62.85 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold tailed off $64.30 to $3,183.50
Tariff Relief Rally Continues, S&P Again in Green