Dow and S&P 500 Gain as Moderna Leads Major US Stocks Higher on Wall Street

The US stock market moved higher on Wednesday as long-term Treasury yields retreated. The rebound followed Tuesday’s technology-led selloff, which pushed the S&P 500 lower for a third session.

At 11:30 a.m. ET, the Dow rose 0.4% to 53,563. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 7,730, while the NASDAQ added 0.4% to 26,390. Healthcare and consumer stocks supported the market’s gains.

Treasury Plan Supports US Stock Market Today

The Treasury Department said it would expand its buybacks of long-dated government bonds. The plan covers securities within the 10-year to 30-year section of the market. It raises the maximum purchase from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation.

The change takes effect on September 9 and continues through November 4. Treasury said the program aims to support trading conditions in longer-dated bonds. The department will release an updated schedule later. The Treasury announcement confirmed the details.

Bond prices rose after the announcement, sending yields lower. The 30-year Treasury yield fell about nine basis points to nearly 5.20%. It reached its highest level since 2007 during Tuesday’s session. Meanwhile, the 10-year yield dropped about six basis points to 4.65%.

Lower yields reduced some pressure on equity valuations, particularly within technology. Higher borrowing costs had driven Tuesday’s selling across major chip and software companies.

“When interest rates creep up, those expectations are worth less and the stocks are worth less,” Dakota Wealth’s Robert Pavlik said.

Moderna and Merck Drive Healthcare Rally

Moderna led all major stock movers after reporting successful late-stage melanoma trial results. Its personalized mRNA therapy, developed with Merck, reduced the risk of cancer returning or spreading.

Moderna shares traded near $156.42 at 10:31 a.m. ET, up about 148% from Tuesday’s close. The stock reached an intraday high of $162.65. Merck rose about 10.3% to $149.06 after trading as high as $151.72.

Other biotechnology stocks followed the sector higher. BioNTech gained about 21.6% to $112.81, while Novavax advanced about 7.7% to $8.54. The S&P 500 healthcare sector rose 2.7% and reached a record high.

The trial results placed cancer vaccine developers at the center of Wednesday’s trading. Moderna and Merck’s treatment combines a personalized mRNA vaccine with Merck’s Keytruda medicine. The companies reported that the trial met its main goal.

Apple and Tesla Rise as Chips Trade Mixed

Major technology stocks posted mixed moves during morning trading. Apple rose about 2.1% to $316.52, while Tesla gained nearly 1.8% to $342.92. Amazon advanced 0.8%, and Meta added about 0.8%.

Microsoft traded close to unchanged with a 0.1% gain. Alphabet slipped 0.3%, while NVIDIA fell about 0.7% to $218.19. The mixed performance kept the S&P 500 technology sector down about 0.4%.

Marvell Technology gained about 7.6% to $232.32. Earlier, the stock climbed more than 12% before giving back part of its advance. Marvell issued Google a warrant to buy almost 59 million shares under an agreement tied to custom chips.

Broadcom fell about 5.4% to $359.57 after the Marvell-Google announcement. The decline weighed on chip stocks and pushed the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down around 0.7%.

Retail Stocks React to Earnings and Forecasts

Target rose about 4.7% to $159.68 after increasing its annual sales forecast. Its quarterly results included a $752 million addition to net earnings from tariff refunds. That amount equaled $1.65 per share.

Lowe’s gained about 4.2% to $224.63, even after reducing its annual sales growth forecast. Walmart added 1.2% as investors waited for its quarterly earnings report on Thursday.

Estée Lauder climbed about 16.6% to $98.23 after reporting stronger quarterly results. The cosmetics company also issued a fiscal 2027 profit forecast that met or exceeded several analyst estimates.

Meanwhile, TJX declined about 1.8% despite reporting quarterly results and issuing guidance. Analog Devices added 0.4% after its earnings, revenue and current-quarter forecast exceeded expectations. Honeywell Aerospace gained 5.2% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight.

Investors also waited for minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting. Three policymakers voted to raise rates at that meeting. Traders now expect at least one 25-basis-point increase by the end of 2026, according to LSEG data.

Also Read: US Stocks Fall as Rising Bond Yields and Oil Prices Pressure AI Tech Shares