US stocks rebound, led by Dow; indexes recover from early losses

Markets staged a last-minute turnaround to end higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite all finished in positive territory after buyers transformed a tough day for tech stocks into a rebound. While the Nasdaq 100 failed to fully recover, its slight loss was still a vast improvement from the steep drops recorded earlier in the session.

Among large-cap benchmarks, the Dow led the gains, boosted by Nike as its top percentage riser. Small-cap stocks joined the rally, lifting the Russell 2000 by 1.38%. Although the recovery was broader than just the largest tech names, significant sell-offs persisted in semiconductor and AI infrastructure stocks.

Closing levels for the major indexes were as follows:

• The Dow Industrial Average advanced 557.06 points, or 1.08%, to 52,183.23.

• The S&P 500 rose 25.15 points, or 0.33%, to 7,744.09.

• The Nasdaq Composite gained 20.16 points, or 0.08%, to 26,713.03.

• The Russell 2000 climbed 37.74 points, or 1.38%, to 2,767.28.

• The Nasdaq 100 fell 15.22 points, or0.05%, to 29,935.59.

Those final figures do not reflect the full extent of the day's volatility.

The S&P 500 touched a low of minus 49.28 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell by as much as 384.02 points, and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 542.40 points at its worst level.

From those lows, the S&P 500 clawed back 74.43 points by the close. The Nasdaq Composite regained 404.18 points, while the Nasdaq 100 briefly rose 34.81 points before dipping back below the flat line.

The Dow's experience was different: it remained in positive territory all session, and its intraday low was still roughly 60 points higher.

Sellers had their opportunity in the broader market, but they failed to sustain the downward momentum.

Nike leads the Dow’s percentage gainers

Nike jumped5.27%, leading a robust group of Dow stocks. The advance was a welcome bounce in a challenging year, but even after ending at $37.16, the stock is still down about 42% in 2026, showing the extent of the recovery needed. Its post-earnings low on October1 was $31.97, the weakest level since 2013. Topping the Dow’s percentage gainers gives buyers a foundation, but one strong session does not change the broader trend. The next question is whether today’s buying will draw continued interest. The five best performers in the Dow on Wednesday were:

• Nike added5.27%.

• Salesforce rose4.52%.

• Home Depot climbed4.33%.

• Sherwin-Williams increased3.83%.

• UnitedHealth gained2.83%.

That strength distinguished the Dow from the more tech-heavy Nasdaq indexes.

The Magnificent 7 finish mixed

The biggest tech names diverged in performance:

• Microsoft rose1.08%.

• Alphabet added0.45%.

• Amazon gained0.27%.

• Meta fell0.11%.

• Apple slipped0.28%.

• Tesla dropped1.29%.

• Nvidia declined1.84%.

Nvidia's performance merits a closer examination. The stock ended at $217.23 after sliding to $212.85 intraday. That dip briefly pushed it below its 100-day moving average of $214.47 and the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of $213.15. Buyers stepped in, lifting the price back above those technical benchmarks.

Despite closing lower, the rebound offers traders a clear zone to monitor. Holding above that support would give buyers a basis to build on. A renewed break below, however, would make the recovery more fragile.

Big winners—and losses that did not disappear

Among the stronger individual performers:

• Roblox surged7.57%.

• Macy’s rose6.75%.

• AppLovin advanced6.52%.

• Intuit climbed6.36%.

• Coinbase gained6.32%.

• SoFi Technologies rose6.12%.

• CoreWeave added5.96%.

• Lennar increased5.66%.

• Strategy advanced5.62%.

Nevertheless, the index rebound did not undo the losses across the board. A number of semiconductor, networking and AI infrastructure stocks ended the day sharply down:

• Dell Technologies fell6.92%.

• Arista Networks dropped5.05%.

• Applied Materials declined3.72%.

• Vertiv slipped3.61%.

• Cisco lost3.35%.

• Lam Research declined3.30%.

• Intel dropped2.81%.

CoreWeave's advance also highlights why traders should evaluate each stock based on its own price action. Even within a single sector, outcomes can vary widely.

Trading lesson: a recovery needs follow-through

A strong intraday recovery indicates that sellers lost control before the close. That is significant. However, it alone does not signal the end of the broader downturn.

Nvidia serves as a concrete example. Its moving average and retracement provided traders with a support area for defining risk. Sellers briefly dipped below it but could not maintain the break.

Now buyers must capitalize on that defense.

The same logic applies to the overall market as it heads into Friday: the recovery gives buyers a foundation. If they can hold the recovery and retake overhead resistance, they will have greater influence. Fresh selling that wipes out the rebound would undermine their position.

Monitor the key levels, define the risk, and await the next significant move.

Related analysis

Nvidia has gapped to the downside and tested a key technical target area. What next?