Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on August 05, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Stocks rose Wednesday, thanks to a jump in Apple, as investors analyzed the latest batch of corporate earnings following a negative session on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 gained 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up 138 points, or 0.3%.
Supporting those gains, Apple jumped 5% after a White House official confirmed to CNBC that the iPhone maker is going to boost its investment in domestic manufacturing by $100 billion. That brings its total U.S. investment to $600 billion over the next four years.
Those moves follow a losing day for the market, marking the S&P 500‘s fifth down day of the last six and the Dow‘s sixth negative session of the past seven.
“By and large, this is just kind of a digestion that is still continuing from the relatively elevated [volatility] that occurred at the end of last week as the payroll report was disappointing and the [Federal Reserve] did not cut,” said Michael Green, portfolio manager and chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management. “We’re just in a kind of a holding pattern right now.”
Investors have been grappling with the potential impacts of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which Green said have “not been as bad as we thought they might be.” On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced that it’s imposing another 25% levy on goods from India, putting the total U.S. tariff rate on goods from the major U.S. trading partner at 50%.
“People are starting to recognize the tariffs have a different impact on the U.S. as an importer than they would if the U.S. was a major exporter, and things have generally calmed down, he told CNBC. “Now we’re in a little bit of a wait and see mode.”
Meanwhile, earnings season continues with companies reporting strong results, with 81% of S&P 500 companies that have reported to date trouncing expectations, according to FactSet.
Among the day’s outperformers, McDonald’s moved 2% higher after the fast-food restaurant chain’s second-quarter results beat the Street’s estimates on the top and bottom lines. Same-store sales grew at the fastest pace in almost two years. Arista Networks also rallied 17% on a stronger-than-expected report.
On the flip side, Snap shares tumbled 18% after revenue came in slightly below expectations, while Advanced Micro Devices fell 7% after posting adjusted earnings per share that missed estimates.
Green worries that investors are not rewarding beats as they have in the past, suggesting expectations were elevated heading into the season.
“There’s increasing questions about the quality of the earnings that are emerging,” he said.