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U.S. EQUITIES CLIMB WITH NASDAQ IN CHARGE

Nasdaq .IXIC led the charge on Wall Street on Wednesday with the tech-heavy index adding 1.2%. It looked at times like it could beat its July 28 record close, but it couldn't make it there in the end. However, the S&P 500's technology index .SPLRCT was not so bashful, registering a record closing high for the session as it surpassed its July 30 finish.

Nasdaq .IXIC saw its biggest boost from Apple AAPL.O, after a White House official said it would make a domestic manufacturing pledge of $100 billion. And citing White House officials, CNBC reported that Apple would be largely unaffected by tariffs it announced against goods from India.

The Nasdaq's next biggest boost was from Amazon.com AMZN.O, which rose more than 3%, after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it certified Amazon's self-driving unit Zoox vehicles for demonstration use and closed a probe into whether they had complied with federal requirements.

On the earnings front, another big lift came from U.S. listed shares of Shopify SHOP.O SHOP.TO, which soared almost 22% after the provider of ecommerce tools forecast upbeat quarterly revenue, saying that there was no slowdown in consumer demand yet and that sellers are holding up well under tariff pressures.

Among the S&P 500's .SPX 11 major industry indexes, six advanced on the day with the benchmark's biggest gainer consumer discretionary .SPLRCD, up 2.51%. The discretionary sector's third biggest index point boost came from McDonald's MCD.N, which rose ~3% after it reported second-quarter global comparable sales that beat Street estimates as affordable meal bundles and promotions drew in budget-conscious diners looking to stretch their dollars amid economic uncertainty.

Healthcare .SPXHC was the weakest sector with most of its stocks losing ground. Its second biggest drag came from Amgen AMGN.O, which sank 5% to $284.67, after its quarterly report late Tuesday. After the report, UBS cut its target price for the stock to $326, while Citi raised its PT by $5 to $310.

The S&P 500 closed up 0.7%, while the Dow .DJI tagged along behind with a 0.18% advance.

Here is your closing snapshot:

(Sinéad Carew, Terence Gabriel)

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