Wall Street put together a third straight winning day on Wednesday, and it did it in the most 2026 way possible: a handful of enormous technology names did the heavy lifting, the artificial-intelligence trade woke back up, and a rocket company — a rocket company — stole the entire show. According to Investopedia's markets live blog, the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% and the S&P 500 added 0.6%, the broad index's third consecutive gain. Newsquawk's closing snapshot put precise levels on the day: the S&P 500 at 7,759, the Nasdaq-100 up 1.20% at 29,845, the Dow up 0.69% at 52,857, and the small-cap Russell 2000 up 0.32% at 2,782. Green across the board, with the growth-heavy indexes comfortably in front.
SpaceX stole the show
The day's loudest move belonged to SpaceX, which soared nearly 8% to lead the Nasdaq-100, Investopedia reported — one day after the company reported its first-ever quarterly profit, the milestone we covered in our SpaceX earnings story. As if a debut profit were not enough drama for one week, Elon Musk added a second act: he said the boards of SpaceX and Tesla have formed committees to discuss a possible merger between the two companies, a development detailed in our coverage of the merger committees. Tesla's stock rose almost 3.5% in regular trading on Wednesday, ahead of its own earnings report after the close. Two Musk companies, two enormous stories, one trading day — the market barely had time to price the first headline before the second arrived.
It is worth pausing on how unusual the SpaceX move is. Newly public companies often wobble through their first earnings season as investors figure out what they own. SpaceX instead posted a first profit and immediately became the index's top performer, dragging sentiment for the whole space-and-rockets complex along with it. Whether Wednesday's jump was about the profit, the merger talk, or simply momentum discovering a new favorite toy, the result was the same: the Nasdaq's biggest winner was not a chipmaker or a software giant, but a company that launches rockets.
The AI trade woke back up
Underneath the SpaceX fireworks, the day's most consequential move may have been the rebound in artificial-intelligence stocks. Investopedia reported that the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) gained 3%, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose 2%, the Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS) added about 1%, and Nvidia itself climbed 2.5%. Super Micro Computer, one of the AI hardware trade's most volatile names, surged 9% to finish among the day's biggest gainers anywhere in the market. After the chip-led wobble that hit markets earlier in the week, Wednesday looked like buyers deciding the wobble had been the opportunity rather than the warning.
The rest of the winners' circle was a healthy mix. United Airlines rose 4%, Thermo Fisher Scientific gained 1%, and two of the evening's headline reporters got a friendly reception in advance: Meta Platforms rose less than 1% and IBM climbed about 4% during the regular session, Investopedia reported, ahead of results due after the closing bell. When investors are bidding up companies hours before they publish their numbers, that is either confidence or positioning — and Wednesday, at least, the confidence turned out to be well placed.
Not everyone got the memo
A rising index hides plenty of individual pain, and Wednesday had some genuine bruises. AT&T was the S&P 500's worst performer, falling 6.5%, Investopedia reported — a rough session for a company whose quarterly numbers we covered in our AT&T earnings story, and a reminder that in this market a perfectly decent report can still be met with a sell button. Netflix fell more than 5%, a day after its own earnings report; we wrote earlier in the week about how Netflix's stock slid even as its results beat expectations, and Wednesday extended the hangover. Abbott Laboratories lost 2% and Philip Morris fell 1.5%, rounding out a decliners' list that was short but pointed.
There is a pattern in that list worth noticing. The day's losers were, almost without exception, companies that had just reported earnings — while the day's winners included several companies that had not yet reported, or had just reported something the market genuinely loved. This earnings season is not grading reports on a curve. It is sorting, stock by stock and sometimes hour by hour, and the sorting is unsentimental.
After the bell, the main event delivered
The regular session was only the warm-up. After the close came the earnings slate the whole week had been building toward — the one we previewed in today's earnings-eve briefing — and the early verdict from after-hours trading was kind. Reuters reported that Meta rose 4% after the bell on its earnings, Tesla added 2%, and IBM jumped 7%. Three of the evening's biggest names, three green prints in extended trading. After-hours moves have a way of moderating by morning, but as first reactions go, this one suggests Thursday's open will have a tailwind rather than a mess to clean up. Meta managed its gains on a day when it was also absorbing a $25 billion judgment in New Mexico, which tells you something about both the size of the company and the attention span of the market.
Gold, oil and the quiet corners
Away from equities, the day was calmer. Gold was little changed at $4,135 an ounce, holding near its extraordinary recent levels without adding drama, Investopedia reported. Oil was mixed: Brent crude held steady while West Texas Intermediate moved lower. For a session that featured a rocket stock up 8%, a chip stock up 9% and three mega-cap earnings reports after the bell, the commodities markets were content to watch from the cheap seats.
So the scoreboard reads: three straight gains for the S&P 500, a Nasdaq led by a space company, an AI trade back on its feet, and an after-hours session that rewarded the evening's biggest reporters. Earnings season has a long way to run, and Thursday will grade Wednesday's after-hours enthusiasm at the open, where it counts. But days like this are how uptrends convince the skeptics — breadth in the indexes, violence in the individual names, and just enough good news after the bell to make tomorrow feel promising. Follow the rest of the day's market and business coverage at the Previously news hub.
