On Wednesday, U.S. stocks went up after a report said that rules on artificial intelligence (AI) chips would be relaxed. Although there was a lot of back-and-forth trading earlier in the day, the market jumped near the end as semiconductor stocks soared. This occurred after news broke that the Trump administration plans to remove some restrictions on AI chips, which was confirmed by someone from the Commerce Department.
The Federal Reserve decided not to change interest rates, which many investors expected. They mentioned that there are growing risks of higher inflation and unemployment, making the future look uncertain. Ellen Hazen, a market expert, suggested that the Fed’s statement indirectly pointed to the impact of Trump’s tariffs on the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by nearly 285 points (or 0.70%) to close at 41,114. The S&P 500 increased by 24 points (or 0.43%), reaching 5,631, and the Nasdaq Composite went up by 49 points (or 0.27%) to finish at 17,738. The stocks were helped by Disney, whose shares jumped 10.8% after reporting better-than-expected earnings.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell mentioned that uncertainty is affecting people and businesses, but he believes the economy is still strong. He also said there could be rate cuts if the data supports it, but they can’t make decisions without clearer information.
Earlier in the day, the market was feeling positive because the U.S. and China are set to meet to discuss trade issues after a turbulent period of tariffs. However, Trump stated he wouldn’t reduce the high tariffs already in place.
The Nasdaq was mostly down during the day, mainly due to Alphabet (Google’s parent company), which dropped more than 7%. Apple shares also fell slightly as it was reported they might add AI features to their web browser.
On the stock exchange, more stocks went up than down – about 1.56 stocks for every one that went down on the NYSE and 1.2 to 1 on the Nasdaq. There were 18 new highs and eight new lows in the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq saw 52 new highs and 114 new lows. Overall, about 15.43 billion shares were traded, which is lower than the average of the last 20 trading days.
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