4:15pm: Nasdaq gains
Tech stocks led Wall Street higher on Wednesday afternoon, with the Nasdaq closing up 0.8% at 22,753 points. The S&P 500 added 0.6% at 6,881 points and the Dow Jones was up 0.3% at 49,662 points.
Up after the bell are earnings from DoorDash, Booking Holdings and Carvana.
2:30pm: Fed minutes show widening divide
Federal Reserve policymakers are signaling that further interest rate cuts are unlikely until inflation shows clearer progress toward the central bank’s 2% target, according to minutes from the Jan. 28 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
The minutes show officials view the labor market as stabilizing, with rates hovering near a neutral level, but some participants warned that inflation could remain above target longer than expected. “Several participants indicated they would have supported a two-sided description of future rate decisions, reflecting the possibility that hikes could be appropriate if inflation remained at above-target levels,” the minutes said.
Analysts noted the Fed’s outlook for growth is unusually optimistic. Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist at LPL Financial, said, “The combination of above-potential growth with easing inflation is not common in Fed projections and likely reflects a strong assumed boost from productivity and AI-related investment.”
12:05pm: Durable goods orders slip
U.S. preliminary data show December durable goods orders fell 1.4% month-over-month, slightly better than the 2.0% drop analysts had expected. Excluding defense, orders declined 2.5%.
Wells Fargo noted that the headline drop masks underlying strength: the decline was largely driven by a 25% pullback in civilian aircraft orders following a near doubling in November. Civilian aircraft are still up 69% year-over-year. Motor vehicle and parts orders rose 1.2% after two months of decline, and orders excluding volatile transportation categories have shown steady gains, rising 0.9% in January, three times analyst expectations.
The data suggest broad-based resilience across most durable goods categories despite headline softness.
11:00am: Housing starts show modest gains
Housing construction ended 2025 on a firmer note, but underlying momentum remains subdued, according to comments from Wells Fargo.
Housing starts rose for a second straight month in December, climbing 6.2% after a 3.9% gain in November, with both single-family and multifamily projects contributing to the increase. Even so, starts were essentially flat over the year, slipping 0.6% in 2025 compared with 2024 as activity continued to move sideways amid monthly volatility.
Single-family starts advanced for a third consecutive month in December as lower mortgage rates helped stabilize permits. However, Wells Fargo expects mortgage rates to remain above 6% for the next few years, limiting further acceleration. Single-family permits, seen as a better gauge of future construction, fell 7.4% in 2025 from the prior year despite late-year improvement.
Multifamily starts jumped 11.3% in December and were up 17.4% for the year, though permit growth was more modest at 3.9%, suggesting softer underlying demand.
Builder sentiment also remains weak. The NAHB Housing Market Index declined for a second straight month in February, reflecting softer buyer traffic and tempered sales expectations.
10am: Nasdaq leads despite mixed start for big tech
The Nasdaq led the way in the first half hour of trading on Wednesday, up 0.9% despite Apple, Meta, Alphabet, Meta, Broadcom and Tesla opening in the red.
The S&P 500 opened up 0.5% and the Dow Jones 0.3%.
Top risers on the Dow were Goldman Sachs, Nvidia, Disney and Amazon.
8am: Nasdaq set to lead Wall Street higher
Wall Street stock futures were pointing higher on Wednesday morning with the tech-led Nasdaq expected to lead gains as the sector rotation continues to hold back large-scale index moves.
Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.45%, while those for the S&P 500 were pointing 0.3% higher and Dow Jones futures indicated a 0.1% gain.
The previous session saw stocks overcome a rocky start to close only slightly above flat, with the three major indices all finishing up around 0.1%.
Ahead of the opening bell in New York, the European session was sizzling, with strong gains in London and Madrid.
Stateside, Nvidia shares were up 2% in premarket trading, on the back of its 'full-stack' supply contract with Meta, with Amazon and Palantir also pointing to gains of at least 1%, with Apple, Microsoft and Meta's own flatter.
The dollar was on the front foot earlier before gains were trimmed as its recent slow recovery plods onward. Treasuries edged higher, pushing the 10-year yield to 4.06%. Oil rebounded to about $63 amid Middle East tensions, while gold holds near $4,913 within its recent trading range.
Digging below the headline moves from the majors, tells "a very different story", said market analyst Kenny Polcari at Slatestone Wealth.
Only three sectors finished higher, he notes: financials and real estate both closed up 1%, while industrials ended +0.5%.
The other eight sectors closed lower, with consumer staples hit the hardest, down 1.5%, though this follows a surge of nearly 15% over the past eight weeks.
Likewise, energy fell 1.1% after rallying more than 21% over that same stretch, and basic materials dropped 1.1% after an 18% run in eight weeks.
"So, what does this tell you? This isn’t panic. It’s short-term rotation," said Polcari. "Traders are harvesting short-term gains in areas that have outperformed – using those profits to offset broader weakness elsewhere.
"They’re creating short-term alpha in a market that feels unstable. And in volatile environments, that’s exactly what active money tends to do.
"Longer term money tends to ride out the storm, comfortable in their portfolio, comfortable in the names they own and comfortable in their diversification.
"It doesn’t mean one is right and the other is wrong – it just means one is trading volatility while the other is investing thru the storm – understanding who you are is what matters."
US tech has taken a knock, with the a major tech sector index now 10% below its highs and big names sharply off recent peaks – Amazon down 24%, Nvidia 14%, Meta 20% and Palantir 40%.
Today's US data includes durable goods, housing numbers and the latest Federal Reserve minutes, alongside earnings from chipmaker ADI and payments group GPN.