Big Stock Market Rally Holds on Gains Wednesday Morning

Quick overview

All three major U.S. stock indices looked bullish Wednesday morning after they rallied on Tuesday. Yesterday marked the best day in over a year for the stock market.

March ended with a bang for U.S. stock futures, as the Nasdaq Composite jumped nearly 4%. That index and others remained positive as premarket trading began for Wednesday. The quarter and the month ended with losses across much of the market but with a strong upswing at the end spurred by changing conditions in the war in Iran.

President Donald Trump may be looking to resolve the conflict in the Middle East quickly according to reports this week, and he may not wait for the Strait of Hormuz to open for that to happen. The news gave the stock market a much needed boost, causing the Dow and other leading indices to climb sharply.

Bullish Market to Start off April

On Wednesday morning, the market was still holding onto its gains as the Nasdaq added 1.08% and the Dow jumped 0.69%. The S&P 500 index looked bullish as well with an increase of 0.72%. These numbers tell us that  the market has some upward momentum and that Tuesday’s jump was not just a fluke to be followed by a quick reversal.  

News continued to pour out about the Middle East conflict, with one unconfirmed report stating that Iran’s president was looking to end the war soon as well. Sharp losses for March will plague the market for now, and the indices have a lot of ground to make back to recover from March’s decline.

Microsoft (MSFT) is one of several technology stocks that performed well early this week and made up for losses from the past few days. The tech niche has suffered tremendously throughout the last few months, and Microsoft has weathered storms of scrutiny over their spending even with a strong quarterly performance. Now at $370 per share, the MSFT stock is making upward progress but still has a long way to go to recover from months of decline.

Walmart (WMT) is holding a steady line, neither severely up nor down through the latest developments in the stock market. This is one of the rare notable stocks that has actually improved since January, climbing from $112 per share at the start of the year to its current price of $123. WMT is considered one of the more reliable stocks that tends to perform consistently during stock market upheavals.

One of the biggest stock drops this week came from Nike (NKE), which saw a decline of nearly 14%. The company released their quarterly earnings report this week and beat Wall Street projections for sales. However, they offered a disappointing forecast for the remainder of the year, causing their stock to plummet.

We will likely continue to see wild swings up and down across the stock market this week as investors process new Iran conflict reports. Many of the stocks that struggled last week, however, are showing signs of strong bullish momentum this week.   

ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More

Timothy St. John

Financial Writer - European & US Desks

Timothy St John is a seasoned financial analyst and writer, catering to the dynamic landscapes of the US and European markets. Boasting over a decade of extensive freelance writing experience, he has made significant contributions to reputable platforms such as Yahoo!Finance, business.com: Expert Business Advice, Tips, and Resources - Business.com, and numerous others. Timothy's expertise lies in in-depth research and comprehensive coverage of stock and cryptocurrency movements, coupled with a keen understanding of the economic factors influencing currency dynamics. Timothy majored in English at East Tennessee State University, and you can find him on LinkedIn.

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