Tech Stocks On Track For Best Session In 5 Months Ahead Of Fed Meeting; Small Caps Target Highest Close Since January 2022: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Tech stocks soared to their best session in five months on Wednesday, ahead of the highly anticipated Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. This broad tech rally was propelled by a sharp rebound in chipmakers, buoyed by robust corporate earnings and easing concerns over chip export restrictions to China.

The Federal Reserve is expected to maintain interest rates at 5.25-5.50%, but market attention is fixed on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET, for any hints of a potential rate cut in September, which market participants have fully priced in.

The Nasdaq 100 surged 2.7%, with 87 of its constituents in positive territory, led by Nvidia Corp. NVDA, which jumped 11%. The tech-heavy index hasn’t experienced such a rally since February 2024.

The Biden administration is planning to introduce new regulations next month to restrict the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to Chinese chipmakers, with key allies like Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea being exempt, according to Reuters.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF SOXX soared over 5%, also marking its strongest session since late February 2024.

The S&P 500 also posted solid gains, rising 1.6%. Small caps, tracked by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM, increased by 1.1%, eyeing their highest close since January 2022. Blue chips climbed 0.7%.

The dollar eased 0.2%, weighed down by a disappointing July private employment report released earlier by the ADP. The Japanese yen, tracked by the Invesco CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust FXE, rallied 1.4% following an overnight rate hike by the Bank of Japan.

In commodities, gold rose 0.7%, surpassing $2,400 per ounce, and silver climbed 1.4%. Oil prices surged 3% amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East following the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh by Israeli forces in Iran.

Bitcoin BTC/USD edged up 0.3%.

Wednesday’s Movers In US Major Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
Nasdaq 100	19,306.28	2.7%
S&P 500	5,523.20	1.6%
Russell 2000	2,267.02	1.1 %
Dow Jones	41,030.77	0.7%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 1.6% higher to $550.40.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.7% to $410.22.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ fell 2.6% to $469.60.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rose 1.1% to $224.09.
• Sector-wise, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK outperformed, rallying 3.4%, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund XLV lagged, up 0.1%.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

Stocks moving on earnings were:

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, up 4%.
• Altria Group, Inc. MO, down 3.8%,
• Arista Networks, Inc. ANET up over 9%,
• AutoNation, Inc. AN up 8.2%,
• Barrick Gold Corporation GOLD up 1.5%,
• Bausch + Lomb Corporation BLCO up 0.4%,
• Boeing Company BA, up 5.1%,
• Caesars Entertainment, Inc. CZR up over 12%,
• DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc. DV down about 1%,
• DuPont de Nemours, Inc. DD up 5.3%,
• First Solar, Inc. FSLR up 1.8%,
• Freshworks Inc. FRSH down 4.5%,
• Garmin Ltd. GRMN down 4.6%,
• GSK plc GSK down 2.3%,
• Humana Inc. HUM down 8.8%,
• KKR & Co. Inc. KKR up 3.5%,
• Kraft Heinz Company KHC up 4.3%,
• Marriott International, Inc. MAR up 2.1%,
• Match Group, Inc. MTCH down 1%,
• Microsoft Corp. MSFT (down over 2.50%)
• Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. NCLH down 1.8%
• Oshkosh Corporation OSK down 2.8%,
• Penumbra, Inc. PEN down 3.1%,
• Pinterest, Inc. PINS down over 12%
• Starbucks Corporation SBUX up over 4%,
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited TEVA up over 8%,
• T-Mobile US, Inc. TMUS up 2.5%,
• Wingstop Inc. WING down 1.5%.

Stocks reporting after the close include:

• Albemarle Corporation ALB
• American International Group, Inc. AIG
• Arm Holdings plc ARM
• C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. CHRW
• Carvana Co. CVNA
• eBay Inc. EBAY
• Etsy, Inc. ETSY
• Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. HST
• Lam Research Corporation LRCX
• Meta Platforms Inc. META
• MGM Resorts International MGM
• NETGEAR, Inc. NTGR
• QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM
• Teladoc Health, Inc. TDOC
• Western Union Company WU.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.