Investing.com - The Dow rose for the second-straight day on Wednesday on reports President Donald Trump will delay a decision on imposing tariffs on imported cars and parts and some signs of thawing in the U.S.-China trade dispute.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.45%, the S&P 500 gained.58%, while the Nasdaq Composite moved up 1.13%.
Wall Street recovered strongly after an early slump following a rise in auto stocks on expectations that the White House would not move ahead with duties on imported autos from the EU and Japan. Reuters reported that Trump was leaning against imposing tariffs, citing administration officials.
Ford Motor (NYSE:F), General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) rose around 1% on the day.
But a reversal in shares of department-store giant Macy’s (NYSE:M) took some gloss off consumer discretionaries as the retailer warned it could see an impact from the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China. Macy's closed down 0.5% after rising as much as 4% early in the day on the back of better-than-expected earnings.
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), meanwhile, ended the day higher after its fourth-quarter results beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines, thanks to a 76% surge in its cloud business.
In industrials, Boeing (NYSE:BA) rose 0.8% after the FAA said that the aircraft maker plans to submit a fix for its anti-stall software for its Boeing 737 Max jet "in the next week or so." Boeing shares are down 9.45% this quarter but up 7.1% for the year.
Rising energy stocks also supported the positive day on Wall Street as fears that rising tensions in the Middle East could hurt global supplies offset an unexpected build in U.S. crude stockpiles.
In other company news, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) added to gains after hours as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa), in a government filing, revealed it had taken a $904 million stake in the e-commerce giant.
The economic front, meanwhile, offered little optimism as negative industrial data from both the U.S. and China exacerbated fears that the a prolonged trade dispute between the countries could hurt the world's largest two economies.
"The data have been volatile in recent months, led by swings in autos, but the net result has been significant weakening. Manufacturing is especially export-oriented, but weakening has exceed the degree implied by survey data," Hedge Fund Economics said in a note.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
Coty (NYSE:COTY), Progressive (NYSE:PGR) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A), Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) and Transdigm Group (NYSE:TDG) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.