The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 253 points, an increase of 0.46% as trading started for Wednesday.

On the top of the DJIA is Merck and Co. (MRK), with the stock up by 3.88% as the company benefits from US FDA approval of a new pulmonary drug to treat a very rare lung condition.

The rest of the top spots are taken up by major tech companies- Intel, Verizon, and Apple.

Intel Corp (INTC) climbed 2.58% after announcing new AI software that could help the company stand out in a crowded market.

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) gained 2.08% as the Galaxy AI software was announced to be coming to more of its products, specifically its smartphones.

Apple (AAPL) is up by 1.61% after news broke that it could be releasing generative AI software for use in China, but the deal is not finished.

Dow Jones Outlook

Technology stocks and particularly AI-leaning stocks are still making the biggest moves on the Dow Jones and across the other major indices as well. However, this is a growing niche that is very volatile, as Salesforce (CRM) has learned. Their stock fell the most this morning, dropping 1.38%.

Nvidia (NVDA) has been the big name in AI-related stocks for weeks now, and they fell 2.41% on Wednesday morning. Despite the drop, the company has retained the vast majority of its gains since the price spiked and the company became a stock market darling. Nvidia shares have gained more than 85% in 2024 alone.

With no major earnings reports or economic reports expected to be released this week, the focus is likely to stay on tech stocks and specifically AI stocks. Watch for movement from these same stocks throughout the week as the AI market continues to make large moves into new territories and tech markets.