STORY: Wall Street’s main indexes added more than one percent each on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest one-day percentage gain in two months.
Investors were buoyed by news that a framework for a deal on Greenland had been reached between the U.S. and NATO and that the possibility of new U.S. tariffs on European allies had been averted.
The advances stood in stark contrast to the previous day’s plunge, which had been the worst daily performance by all three benchmarks since October 10.
The selloff reflected the latest episode of President Donald Trump initially using tariff threats to push his agenda before rolling back the rhetoric when a policy victory could be declared.
Liz Miller is founder and president of Summit Place Financial Advisors.
“So clearly the first statements were all focused on the rest of the world and the geopolitical goal, and the market reacted saying, ‘Wait a minute, you need to start negotiating that, we need to start hearing how you’re stepping back and what this will really look like.’ And we’ve seen this back and forth before from this president, and it’s partly the markets and the president learning how we interpret each other’s comments back and forth to each other.”
Among Wednesday’s stock moves, Intel gained more than 11.5% ahead of Thursday’s quarterly results. Investors are betting the turnaround plan promised by CEO Lip-Bu Tan was taking root and that rapid data center build outs were fueling strong demand for its traditional server chips.
Energy stocks ended higher, buoyed by Halliburton, which gained 4% after the company reported earnings that beat estimates. Meanwhile, EQT Corp advanced 6.5% and Expand Energy added 4.5%, as natural gas prices hit a six-week high due to cold weather.
And shares of United Airlines rose more than 2% after the carrier issued an upbeat outlook for the current quarter and the full year. Other airlines benefited from the positive sentiment, with Delta, American Airlines and Southwest all gaining.