Wall Street stocks advanced on Wednesday on revived hopes for progress in the U.S.-China trade dispute and as President Donald Trump soothed fears the Federal Reserve could lose its autonomy with reassurances that he has "no intention of firing" Fed Chair Jerome Powell. All three major U.S. stock indexes pared gains by the closing bell. They gathered momentum during the session after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said high tariffs between the U.S. and China were unsustainable and Trump signaled he was open to easing trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.

Market Snapshot

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 419.59 points, or 1.07%, to 39,606.57, the S&P 500 gained 88.10 points, or 1.67%, to 5,375.86 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 407.63 points, or 2.50%, to 16,708.05.

Market Movers

Tesla Motors , the electric-vehicle maker, posted first-quarter net income that dropped 71% from a year earlier. Sales have fallen partly because CEO Elon Musk's political activities have turned off buyers. Shares climbed 5.4%, however, after Musk told investors that starting in May, his "time allocation to [the Department of Government Efficiency] will drop significantly." Other Mag 7 stocks also rallied; Amazon and Meta up 4%; Nvidia up 3%; Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft up 2%.

Intel stock rose 5.5% after Bloomberg reported the struggling chip maker was poised this week to announce plans to cut more than 20% of its staff. The restructuring would be the first under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who was named the company's top executive in March.

Chipotle Mexican Grill — Chipotle missed first-quarter revenue estimates and said same-store sales declined for the first time since 2020, leading the stock to drop 2%. The burrito chain reported adjusted earnings per share of 29 cents, while analysts polled by LSEG forecast 28 cents per share. Revenue came out at $2.88 billion for the period, falling short of the consensus $2.95 billion estimate, per LSEG. Chipotle also lowered the top end of its outlook for full-year same-store sales growth.

Texas Instruments — Shares of the semiconductor manufacturer popped 4.8% after market close. Texas Instruments reported first-quarter earnings of $1.28 per share on revenue of $4.07 billion, handily beating analysts’ expectations for earnings of $1.07 per share on revenue of $3.91 billion.

Lam Research — Shares of the company, which supplies wafer fabrication equipment to semiconductor firms, jumped roughly 4% on the back of a strong fiscal third-quarter financial report. Lam Research posted adjusted earnings of $1.04 per share on revenue of $4.72 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by LSEG called for earnings of $1.01 per share on revenue of $4.65 billion in revenue.

Knight-Swift Transportation — Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation declined 3% after the company’s management said uncertain trade policies and its implications have led it to provide a “wider range than normal” for next quarter’s earnings. The company now sees second-quarter earnings ranging from 30 cents to 38 cents per share, below LSEG consensus estimates for 42 cents per share. Knight-Swift Transportation also said it would not share guidance for the third quarter.

ServiceNow — The workflow software company popped 10%. ServiceNow posted first-quarter adjusted earnings of $4.04 per share on revenue of $3.09 billion. The results surpassed analysts’ estimates of $3.83 per share in earnings and $3.08 billion in revenue, per LSEG.

Southwest Airlines — Southwest Airlines shares dipped 3.7% after the airline on Wednesday said it will reduce its capacity in the second half of 2025, given further signs of weaker domestic bookings this year.

Whirlpool — The manufacturer of household appliances jumped 4%. Whirlpool held steady with its full-year guidance, calling for ongoing earnings of $10 per share, while FactSet consensus estimates called for $9.35 per share. The company’s revenue outlook for the period also remained unchanged at $15.8 billion, surpassing the Street’s estimate of $15.62 billion.

International Business Machines — Shares of IBM slid 6% even after the company exceeded Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations. IBM reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.60 per share on revenue of $14.54 billion, while analysts surveyed by LSEG forecast earnings of $1.40 per share on revenue of $14.40 billion.

Enphase Energy tumbled 16% after first-quarter earnings at the installer of residential solar panels and storage solutions missed Wall Street expectations. Enphase earned 68 cents a share in the period on revenue of $356.1 million versus estimates for profit of 72 cents a share on revenue of $360.6 million. Enphase said it expects second-quarter revenue of $340 million to $380 million; the middle of that range, at $360 million, falls short of consensus expectations of $378.5 million.

Intuitive Surgical, the medical-technology company, posted first-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.81 a share, better than analysts' estimates for $1.74. Revenue rose 19% to $2.25 billion, also topping forecasts. Shares were up 1.9% as the strong results appeared to offset concern that tariffs would hurt its full-year financial results.

Capital One Financial was up 3.6% after reporting first-quarter adjusted earnings of $4.06 a share, topping analysts' forecasts for $3.64. Revenue declined 2% to $10 billion and slightly missed estimates. Capital One's $35.3 billion all-stock acquisition of Discover Financial Services was approved by banking regulators last week.

Bristol Myers Squibb declined 2.6%. The company said Cobenfy, a schizophrenia treatment it is developing, didn't show for a statistically significant benefit relative to a placebo in a Phase 3 trial.

U.S.-listed shares of SAP gained 7.5%. The German enterprise software company reported first-quarter operating profit and revenue that rose from a year earlier and maintained its financial forecasts for 2025. Sales from SAP's core cloud business jumped 26% to EUR4.99 billion.

BP's American depositary receipts declined 0.9% after rising earlier in the session. Activist investor Elliott Investment Management disclosed it has built a stake of more than 5% in the energy company, and was pushing for changes.

Vertiv Holdings soared 8.6% after the maker of data-center cooling systems posted better-than-expected earnings, and raised its forecast of 2025 net sales, citing strong AI demand. Management acknowledged that tariffs remain fluid, but said the company was working to mitigate the impact.

Oklo recovered earlier losses to rise 8.6%. The nuclear energy start-up said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was stepping down as chairman. Oklo didn't provide a reason for Altman's exit, but Chief Operating Officer and co-founder Caroline Cochran alluded to the potential for collaboration with OpenAI. "We are excited to continue working with [Altman] to bring scalable, clean energy to the AI sector and beyond, and to continue to explore strategic partnerships with leading AI companies, including potentially with OpenAI," Cochran said in a statement.

Shares of AT&T rose 0.9% after the telecommunications company posted adjusted first-quarter earnings of 51 cents a share on revenue of $30.6 billion. Analysts were looking for earnings of 51 cents a share on revenue of $30.4 billion. AT&T reaffirmed its full-year financial forecasts and said it still expects to complete the sale of its 70% stake in DirecTV by mid-2025.

Boeing stock rose 6.1% after the aerospace company posted a narrower-than-expected loss in the first quarter. Boeing reported a loss of 49 cents a share on sales of $19.5 billion, compared with the $1.21 a share on sales of $19.6 billion analysts were anticipating.

Market News

"Pervasive" Uncertainty From Trade Fights Depresses Outlook For Economy, Fed's Beige Book Finds

The Federal Reserve's first deep look at the economy since President Trumped imposed tariffs on the rest of the world showed the U.S. still expanding steadily, but "pervasive" uncertainty threatened to curtail growth in the months ahead.

"Economic activity was little changed since the previous report, but uncertainty around international trade policy was pervasive across reports," the Fed's so-called Beige Book said.

Musk's Neuralink could fetch $8.5 billion valuation

Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink is planning to raise about $500 million at a pre-money valuation of $8.5 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The company has started preliminary discussions with potential investors, but terms of the funding round are not yet finalized, according to the report.