The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 192.87 points or 0.9% to a new record closing high of 20,611.34, the S&P 500 climbed 37.74 points or 0.6% to 6,263.26 and the Dow rose 217.54 points or 0.5% to 44,458.30.
Wall Street gained on hopes of a US - EU trade deal with higher tariffs than the UK's. Trump posted letters to world leaders on new tariff plans. Fed minutes showed most officials favor waiting for more inflation clarity. Growth and jobs remain strong.
Nvidia (NVDA) helped lead the markets higher, with the AI darling jumping by 1.8% and briefly becoming the first company to reach a market capitalization of $4 trillion. Housing stocks turned in some of the market's best performances, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index surging by 2.9% to its best closing level in over four months. Gold stocks were significantly strong, as reflected by the 1.9% gain posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Biotechnology and utilities stocks also saw notable strength while oil service stocks gave back ground after Tuesday's surge, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 1.1%.
Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index edged down by 0.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.1%. The major European markets all moved upwards while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.2%, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both jumped by 1.4%.
In the bond market, treasuries saw a notable rebound after trending lower over the past several sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slumped 7.3 bps to 4.34%.