Wall Street Shakes off Nerves: S&P 500 Snaps Back as Big Tech Leads the Charge

CNBC, Reuters, Investor’s Business Daily, and Fortune contributed to this report.

Stocks bounced hard Thursday, with dip-buyers piling into tech after a fresh round of upbeat earnings. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, more than erasing Wednesday’s slump. The Dow added about 173 points (0.4%), while the Nasdaq did the heavy lifting, up 1.1% on strength in Nvidia, Broadcom and Amazon. Oracle popped roughly 3%, adding more AI juice to the rebound.

The comeback follows a wobbly midweek session, when headlines about potential US curbs on exports to China of goods made with American software knocked risk appetite. Those plans would build on President Donald Trump’s earlier pledge to restrict “any and all critical software” exports by Nov. 1. Today, investors looked past the policy jitters and focused on profits instead.

“Don’t count out the bull market just because of a volatility bout,” said Giuseppe Sette of Reflexivity. “A handful of tech stocks have led the rally, but now we’ll see how hundreds of global companies benefit from AI’s productivity gains.”

Earnings season is carrying the tape. More than 80% of S&P 500 companies reporting so far have topped estimates, according to FactSet. Tesla, which kicked off the “Magnificent Seven” slate, shook off early weakness after mixed Q3 results and was last up more than 1%. IBM trimmed a deeper slide after beating overall but posting in-line software revenue; shares were still down a bit more than 1%.

“While some names get punished for misses, we expect results overall to stay strong enough to keep stocks elevated near-term,” said Emily Bowersock Hill of Bowersock Capital Partners.

Under the hood, it wasn’t just the megacaps. Hexcel ripped 15% to a 52-week high after topping expectations and authorizing $600 million in buybacks. Quantum computing names ripped higher — Rigetti, IonQ and Quantum Computing all surged — after a report that Washington is in talks to take equity stakes in the sector in exchange for federal funding. On the flip side, Super Micro Computer slid about 7% after cutting its sales outlook.

Away from earnings, macro crosswinds kept traders busy. The 10-year Treasury yield crept back above 4%, a reminder that rates still matter even as the Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut next week. Oil jumped roughly 5% after the administration slapped new sanctions on Russia’s energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pressed for an “immediate ceasefire” in Ukraine, while President Trump said his meeting with China’s President Xi is “scheduled,” a small balm for trade nerves that flared on Wednesday.

Technicians had something to cheer, too: the S&P 500 remains on pace to notch its 122nd straight close above the 50-day moving average — the longest such run since 2011 — underscoring how persistent the uptrend has been despite periodic shakes. Gold also found a bid, reversing some of this week’s losses.

Profits are doing the talking again. With AI-heavy leaders back in front and breadth trying to improve, the market just turned a one-day scare into another buy-the-dip moment. All eyes now shift to the next wave of megacap earnings — and any fresh clues on trade policy — to see if the rebound has room to run.