Wall Street today: S&P 500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq edge higher amid trade war, Tesla soars 5.53%, Apple climbs 4.45%

US stock key indices edged higher on Wednesday, April 9, led by tech shares amid the trade war spurned by President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.

As of 12:42 PM EDT, the S&P 500 was up 0.70%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.45%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.46% higher.

At 09:52 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 94.72 points, or 0.25%, to 37,740.31, the S&P 500 gained 31.96 points, or 0.64%, to 5,014.73 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 222.93 points, or 1.46%, to 15,490.84.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 257.7 points, or 0.68%, to 37,387.91. The S&P 500 fell 17.5 points, or 0.35%, to 4,965.28​, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 27.5 points, or 0.18%, to 15,295.441.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.36% from 4.26% late on Tuesday. Earlier in the session, it rose to 4.50%.

Tariffs War

Retaliating to US President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs, China's finance ministry said on Wednesday that Beijing would impose additional tariffs of 84% on all American goods from April 10, up from the 34% announced earlier.

President Trump’s sweeping tariffs took effect earlier in the day.

Investors are concerned that the tariffs war would stoke inflation and hinder economic growth across the globe.

Gainers and Losers

Among the megacap stocks, Apple climbed 4.45%, Nvidia soared 4.36%, Microsoft added 3.01%, and Tesla gained 5.53%.

Healthcare stocks fell, with Eli Lilly dropping 3.7% and AbbVie slipping 4.1%.

Delta Air Lines stock climbed 7.1% as the company pulled financial forecasts for 2025.

Energy stocks dropped as crude prices plunged to more than four-year lows. Exxon Mobil and Chevron lost over 1.5% each.

Bullion

Gold prices surged more than 2% on Wednesday, as US dollar declined and on safe-haven inflows amid escalating US-China trade tensions.

Spot gold was up 2.2% at $3,048.19 an ounce, as of 09:01 AM ET (1301 GMT). US gold futures rose 2.5% to $3,065.40.

Silver gained 1.4% to $30.26 an ounce, platinum slipped 0.6% to $915.59, and palladium fell 1.1% to $897.14.

Crude oil

Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday as intensifying trade war endangered energy demand.

US crude fell 3.83% to $57.30 a barrel and Brent fell to $60.51 per barrel, down 3.68% on the day.