The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 182.60 points higher on Wednesday, gaining 0.36 per cent to set a fresh record at 50,644.28, while the S&P 500 ticked 0.02 per cent higher to 7,520.36 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.07 per cent to end at 26,674.73. All three benchmarks set closing records, the seventh such session for the Dow in the past three weeks.
The rally was uneven across the day. US equities opened firm on hopes that the Trump cabinet meeting at the White House would yield clearer language on the Iran framework, but the rally drained from late morning as the president repeated his "negotiating on fumes" framing and threatened further strikes if Iran did not move. The Nasdaq dipped briefly into negative territory in the early afternoon before recovering on a late-session bid into chip stocks.
Semiconductors led on the day. SK Hynix, listed on the Kospi, closed up 9.3 per cent in Korea, dragging on its US-listed peers, while Micron Technology added a further 4.2 per cent in New York to compound Tuesday's 19 per cent surge. Nvidia rose 1.8 per cent to fresh closing highs, leaving the AI infrastructure complex up roughly twenty-two per cent month-to-date and accounting for the bulk of the S&P 500's May gain.
Beyond chips, the breadth was thin. Only 216 S&P 500 names finished higher, the narrowest day for advancers in three weeks, and the equal-weighted S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent. Energy stocks slid on the day's sharp drop in crude prices, with Exxon Mobil down 1.7 per cent and ConocoPhillips off 2.4 per cent. Financials also lagged after Wells Fargo and Bank of America were both downgraded by Morgan Stanley on regional-credit concerns.
The bond market priced in a more cautious read. Two-year Treasury yields rose four basis points to 3.96 per cent and the ten-year added two basis points to 4.51 per cent, with traders citing Trump's suggestion that the US could "easily" extend tariffs on Chinese AI chips. Federal funds futures still imply two Fed cuts by year-end, but the September meeting is now only sixty-eight per cent priced for a move, down from ninety per cent last week.
After-hours focus shifts to Salesforce, which reports first-quarter fiscal 2027 results, and Costco, which reports later in the week. Salesforce shares, down roughly thirty-two per cent on the year heading into the print, will set a key tone for the broader software complex that has lagged the chip-led rally.