Closing Summary

U.S. stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite leading a broad rebound as technology, industrials and AI-related chips outperformed. The advance was broad-based across the 11 S&P 500 sectors, though communication services lagged after Netflix's post-earnings decline, and defensive groups (real estate, consumer staples, health care) finished in the red as money rotated into cyclicals and growth. Energy found support following an attack on Saudi oil infrastructure that lifted crude prices, while investors continued to position ahead of the October 28 FOMC meeting, where a policy pause is the base case.

What to watch next: Thursday brings final October S&P Global U.S. manufacturing and services PMIs and the final University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment print, plus earnings from American Express (AXP), Illinois Tool Works (ITW) and SLB. The key macro risk into next week is the October 28 FOMC decision: with inflation near 3.7%, futures markets imply roughly an 83% probability of a pause, so any hawkish surprise could reprice the rate-cut rally.

Indexes

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.69%
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.59%
The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.05%

At Wednesday's close, the S&P 500 settled at 7,757.85, the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 52,856.09 and the Nasdaq Composite at 26,702.86. Trading activity was moderate: S&P 500 volume came in at 2.31 billion shares, with SPY and QQQ volumes at 31.6 million and 31.5 million shares respectively.

Technical levels: For the S&P 500, near-term support sits at 7,709-7,712 (Wednesday's low and the prior close area), with the 50-day moving average near 7,704 as the next floor; resistance is at Wednesday's high of 7,770.40, then the record at 7,844.52. SPY (closing at 773.09) has support at 768.3 (50-day average) and 760.6 (October 16 low), with resistance at 774.4 and the 52-week high of 781.6; its daily RSI at 53.5 signals neutral momentum. The Nasdaq holds support at 26,507 (session low) and the 50-day average near 26,622, with resistance at 26,779 and the record 27,723; QQQ support is 719.7 and 707.2, resistance 727.95 and 762.86. The Dow is supported at 52,392 and its 50-day average near 52,389, with resistance at 52,860 and the record 54,744.

Stock & Sector Performance

Leaders: Technology (XLK +1.67%) led the session, followed by Industrials (XLI +0.91%) and Financials (XLF +0.57%). Semiconductor and AI infrastructure names were the standout theme, and the cybersecurity complex also bid after emergency patches were released for two critical PHP remote-code-execution vulnerabilities (CVSS 4.0 score 9.2) affecting an estimated 70% of websites.

Laggards: Communication Services (XLC -1.11%) was the weakest sector on Netflix's post-earnings slide, while Real Estate (XLRE -0.74%), Consumer Staples (XLP -0.73%) and Health Care (XLV -0.49%) also finished lower. Energy (XLE +0.28%) and Utilities (XLU +0.29%) were modestly higher, supported by the jump in crude prices.

Magnificent Seven: NVDA +2.54%, TSLA +3.41%, AAPL +1.32%, META +0.47%, MSFT +0.20%, AMZN -0.10%, GOOGL -1.62%. The group was mixed but net positive, with Tesla and Nvidia providing the main lift while Alphabet weighed on the index.

Notable movers: Among large-cap gainers, Super Micro Computer (SMCI) +10.20%, Datadog (DDOG) +7.97%, Charles River Laboratories (CRL) +6.96% and Dell Technologies (DELL) +4.80% led the S&P 500 higher. AT&T (T) fell after reporting an earnings miss and softer monthly mobile net additions amid an intensifying carrier price war.

Major Company News

The single most market-moving company story was SpaceX (SPCX). The company reported third-quarter revenue of $14.58 billion, well above consensus expectations of roughly $13 billion, and swung to a $4.4 billion profit versus $2.12 billion expected. Its "Super Intelligence" (AI) segment generated $7.56 billion in revenue, beating the $6.47 billion consensus, and SpaceX also closed its $60 billion acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor. Following the report, SpaceX shares rose sharply in extended trading and lifted the broader space-stock complex. Separately, Elon Musk disclosed that Tesla and SpaceX have formed special committees to evaluate a potential merger, a catalyst to monitor in coming sessions.

Netflix (NFLX) reported third-quarter results after Tuesday's close and shares fell about 4.7% as investors focused on slowing subscriber growth and softer forward guidance rather than the profit beat. The weakness in Netflix spilled into communication services, making XLC the day's laggard despite the broader market rally.