25.02.202621:01:22UTC+00US Stocks Extend Strong Momentum

US equities extended Tuesday’s gains on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 up 0.9%, the Nasdaq Composite advancing 1.4%, and the Dow adding 0.7%. Investor attention remained fixed on Nvidia, which rose 1.4% ahead of its closely watched earnings release after the close. Software names led the advance: Oracle climbed 1.2% following a bullish analyst upgrade, while Microsoft and Palantir rallied 3% and 4.2%, respectively. Sentiment toward AI service models continued to improve after Anthropic’s latest integrations reinforced the view of AI as a complement to, rather than a replacement for, incumbent software platforms. In contrast, AMD slipped 1.4%, retracing part of Tuesday’s 9% surge that followed Meta’s announcement of a multiyear plan to deploy 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs. On the policy front, markets continued to digest the new 10% global import duty that took effect Tuesday, although President Trump’s State of the Union address largely emphasized domestic retirement and housing initiatives instead of signaling additional near-term tariff increases.