Wall Street rallied for the second straight day on Tuesday, pushing the S&P 500 into positive territory for 2025 after a tough start to the year. The index rose 0.8%, boosted by easing US-China trade tensions and cooler-than-expected inflation data.
The Nasdaq jumped 1.7 percent, led by tech stocks, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged behind, falling 188 points or 0.4 percent. The drop in Dow was largely due to a steep 17 percent decline in UnitedHealth shares, after the company announced CEO Andrew Witty’s exit and withdrew its 2025 forecast, citing rising medical costs.
Nvidia was the star performer, surging more than 6 percent after CEO Jensen Huang announced that the company would supply over 18,000 of its latest GB300 Blackwell AI chips to Saudi firm Humain. The chips will be used to power a massive 500-megawatt data center in the Kingdom. The deal was revealed during a White House-led business trip to the Middle East that included President Donald Trump and several US tech leaders.
The rally pushed Nvidia’s market cap back above $3 trillion, putting it ahead of Apple and making it the world’s second most valuable company, behind only Microsoft.
Coinbase shares soared 19 percent after S&P Dow Jones Indices said the crypto exchange would be added to the S&P 500 index on May 19, replacing Discover Financial Services. The news wiped out the stock’s year-to-date losses.
Investors were also encouraged by fresh inflation numbers. Consumer prices rose 2.3 percent in April compared to a year ago, slightly below the 2.4 percent forecast by economists polled by Dow Jones. The softer reading raised hopes that inflation is easing, improving the outlook for interest rates and the broader economy.
After being down as much as 17% earlier this year, the S&P 500 is now up 0.2% for 2025.
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