- Traders seem untroubled by the possibility that tariffs’ return to the spotlight could lead to another market crash. As stocks rose, Nvidia became the first company ever to reach a market cap of $4 trillion.
Stocks rose on Wednesday after two days of declines. Those downturns proved to be little more than blips in the continuous—albeit choppy—march the stock market has had since its recent nadirs in April. Meanwhile, tech juggernaut Nvidia hit a historic new $4 trillion milestone.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.9%. While the Dow Jones ticked up 218 points, good for a 0.5% increase, after taking the worst of the two-day slump.
Traders seemed to ignore this latest round of tariff news—a stark contrast to their reaction in April when President Donald Trump’s initial burst of tariff policies caused a broad market selloff that hit equities, the U.S. dollar, and the bond market. When tariffs returned to the forefront right before the July Fourth holiday last week, investors had already braced themselves. Markets dipped a little but stayed largely in the range of their recent highs.
Wednesday, July 9 marked the deadline for a 90-day pause on tariffs. However, Trump has since extended the deadline to Aug. 1. On Wednesday, the president sent “tariff letters” to seven new countries including the Philippines, Moldova, and Brunei.
Asian markets were mostly down on the news of renewed tariff policies. Shanghai’s SSE Composite dipped 0.13%. Stocks in Hong Kong dropped 1.06% during the session. The ASX 200 and the Nifty 50 slipped 0.61% and 0.18% respectively. A rare bright spot was the Nikkei, which is up 0.33% on the day.
Nvidia’s historic $4 trillion market cap
Back in the U.S., stock market darling and semiconductor juggernaut Nvidia became the first company with a $4 trillion valuation.
Shares rose 1.8% on Wednesday hitting a share price of $162.86. Nvidia became the poster child for the AI market rally that led the S&P 500 to back-to-back years of more than 20% growth.
The company’s shares shot up as soon as markets closed. Investors were eager to scoop up shares after they fell slightly over the past week. After that initial exuberance, the price tailed off before plateauing around 11 a.m. Shares remained stable throughout the rest of the session.
Nvidia beat other legendary tech giants Apple and Microsoft to the $4 trillion mark. Since the start of the year, Nvidia’s stock is up 17%—though that proves a relatively calm performance for the chipmaker, which has seen its stock rise 1,453% over the past five years.
