U.S. stocks rise as Wall Street's winning streak grows to four days

U.S. stocks closed broadly higher Wednesday, extending Wall Street’s recent winning streak to a fourth straight day.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite added 0.8%.

Solid gains for technology companies led the rally, although the gains were widespread, with most of the sectors in the benchmark S&P 500 index finishing higher. Gainers also outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange.

U.S. markets have a shortened trading week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, closing on Thursday and opening for shorter hours on Friday.

The market’s recent rebound, fueled by investor hopes for another Federal Reserve interest rate cut in December, has helped erase most of the major indexes’ losses following a bout of selling earlier this month.

“It’s a tech-driven, buy-the-bounce kind of response to the very swift sell-off that we saw,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. “Investors are of the mind that this pullback has run its course and that it’s going to lead to a December dash to the finish line.”

Dell Technologies climbed 5.8% after saying it has received record orders for its artificial intelligence servers. Dell and other technology companies had fallen earlier in the month as investors worried the prices for their stocks had gotten too frothy amid the frenzy over AI. Nvidia, the market’s most valuable company, rose 1.4%.

Among other tech winners was Microsoft, which rose 1.8% and Broadcom, which added 3.3%.

Financial sector stocks also helped lift the market. Robinhood Markets jumped 10.9% for the biggest gain among S&P 500 companies after the trading platform said it plans to roll out a futures and derivatives exchange next year to expand its predictions market business.

Urban Outfitters joined a host of other retailers this week in reporting earnings that exceeded Wall Street forecasts, and its shares jumped 13.5%.

Petco surged 14.5% a day after the pet supply chain delivered mixed quarterly results but raised its fiscal year earnings outlook.

On the downside, shares of Deere dropped 5.7% after the farm equipment company issued a downbeat forecast, citing pressure from tariffs.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 3.99% and the yield on the 2-year Treasury rose to 3.48%.

Stocks have been rallying as comments from Federal Reserve officials have given traders more confidence the central bank will again cut interest rates at its meeting in December. Traders are betting on a nearly 83% probability that the Fed will cut next month, according to data from CME Group.

The central bank, which has already cut rates twice this year in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market, is facing an increasingly difficult decision on interest rates as inflation rises and the job market slows. Cutting interest rates further could help support the economy as employment weakens, but it could also fuel inflation. The latest round of corporate earnings reports was mostly positive, but economic data has been mixed.

Economic data released this week shows Americans bought less from U.S. retailers in September than economists expected and are growing more anxious about the economy. The Fed and Wall Street are also playing catch-up with government reports on the economy suspended during the government shutdown.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 46.73 points to 6,812.61. The Dow gained 314.67 points to 47,427.12, and the Nasdaq added 189.10 points to close at 23,214.69.

In international markets, shares in Europe and Asia advanced. Germany’s DAX gained 1.1% while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.9%. In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.9% in a broad rally that encompassed major exporters and technology shares.

Trader Michael Capolino works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People cross a street near an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to Americans on the war with new missile attacks targeting Israel and the Gulf Arab states Thursday, underlining Tehran’s insistence that it rejected Washington’s outreach for a ceasefire while maintaining its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

Britain planned to hold a call Thursday with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait, through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded passes in peacetime. The 35 countries, including all G7 industrialized democracies except the U.S., as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signed a declaration last month demanding Iran stop blocking the strait. The call will discuss “diplomatic and political measures” that could restore shipping once the fighting is over.

Washington has insisted that Iran allow ships to freely transit the strait, but Trump this week has said it is not up to the U.S. to force it, and in his address encouraged countries that receive oil through Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.”

In his address, Trump said the U.S. would hit Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” while also insisting American “core strategic objectives are nearing completion.”

Iran's military said defiantly on Thursday that its armament facilities are hidden and will never be reached by Israeli or American attacks.

“The centers you think you have targeted are insignificant,” said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the Iranian military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

Just before Trump began his nearly 20-minute address on Wednesday, explosions were heard in Dubai as air defenses worked to intercept an Iranian missile barrage. Less than a half hour after the president was done, Israel said its military was working to intercept incoming missiles.

Sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, immediately after the speech.

Following a joint statement in March condemning Iranian attacks on unarmed commercial vessels that called upon Iran to “cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the strait,” the 35 signatories were to hold a virtual meeting Thursday hosted by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Though the oil and gas that typically transits the Strait of Hormuz primarily is sold to Asian nations, Japan and South Korea were the only two countries from the region that were joining.

“Trump’s message was that the United States can sustain its own economic and energy ecosystem, while countries dependent on regional exports will either have to buy from the United States or manage the Strait themselves,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank wrote after the address.

“While Trump explicitly thanked U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf for their cooperation and allyship, an expedited U.S. withdrawal without securing the strait will leave many of these countries, whose economies are dependent on energy exports, in the lurch.”

No country appears willing to try and open the strait by force while the war is raging. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the group “will assess all viable diplomatic and political measures we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers and to resume the movement of vital commodities.”

Bahrain, which now holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, has been working to get the world body to address the crisis as well.

Though Iran has allowed a trickle of ships through the strait, it remains largely closed. Iran has also been repeatedly attacking Gulf Arab energy infrastructure, sending oil prices skyrocketing and giving rise to broader economic problems worldwide.

Following Trump's speech, Brent crude, the international standard, rose again and was at $108 in early spot trading, up nearly 50% from Feb. 28 when Israel and the U.S. started the war with their attacks on Iran.

The rising energy prices and stock market jitters have been putting increasing domestic pressure on Trump, who used his address to offer a defense of the war while also suggesting it was close to winding down.

He acknowledged American service members who had been killed and said: “We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close.”

The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan for a ceasefire, but Trump didn’t say anything about the diplomatic efforts or bring up his April 6 deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face severe retaliation from the U.S.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million displaced, according to authorities. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.

Weissert reported from Washington and Rising reported from Bangkok.

The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

President Donald Trump walks from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)