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Market participants went bargain hunting Wednesday, sending the three main equity indexes higher into the close. Sentiment also got a lift on better-than-expected employment data, which arrived ahead of Friday’s release of the February jobs report.
It’s been a volatile week on Wall Street as the escalating conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran sparks uncertainty about geopolitical risk, inflation and future rate cuts.
But despite today’s reports that the U.S. sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean and the Israeli Air Force launched widespread airstrikes in eastern Tehran, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.5% at 48,739), the broader S&P 500 (+0.8% at 6,869), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (+1.3% at 22,807) all closed with comfortable gains.
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Tech stocks were some of Wednesday’s biggest advancers, with chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, +5.8%), Micron Technology (MU, +5.6%) and Nvidia (NVDA, +1.7%) all closing higher following disappointing starts to the week.
And over in the consumer discretionary sector, Amazon.com (AMZN) rose 3.9%, making it the best Dow Jones stock today.
BofA reinstates Buy rating on Tesla stock
Tesla (TSLA) also gave the consumer discretionary sector a boost, gaining 3.4% after BofA Securities analyst Alexander Perry reinstated coverage on the Magnificent 7 stock with a Buy rating and a $460 price target – more than 13% above current levels.
“We view Tesla as the current leader in consumer autonomy and expect it to more profitably scale its robotaxi business,” says Perry. “We see upside from Optimus humanoids, further monetization of full self-driving (FSD), and energy generation & storage.”
Crypto stocks bounce on Trump’s stablecoin support
Cryptocurrencies have been beaten up amid bitcoin’s latest slide, but the industry got a big boost on Wednesday after President Donald Trump criticized banks for holding up the passage of crypto market structure legislation, known as the Clarity Act.
The delay comes as banks fuss over a provision in the GENIUS Act, which was signed into law last summer, that allows companies such as Coinbase Global (COIN, +14.6%) to offer yields on stablecoins.
Big banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM, -0.3%) and Bank of America (BAC, +0.7%), say doing so will cost financial firms more than $6 trillion in deposits, according to a Treasury Department study (pdf).
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“The Genius Act is being threatened and undermined by the Banks, and that is unacceptable — We are not going to allow it,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “The Banks should not be trying to undercut The Genius Act, or hold The Clarity Act hostage. They need to make a good deal with the Crypto Industry because that’s what’s in best interest of the American People.”
Bitcoin rose 7.6% today to $73,089, its highest level since early February. And crypto-adjacent stocks such as Coinbase, Robinhood Markets (HOOD, +8.1%) and Strategy (MSTR, +10.4%) generated big returns too.
GitLab sinks after earnings
On the negative side of today’s ledger was GitLab (GTLB), which dropped 6.2% after the software development platform reported earnings.
While GitLab reported better-than-expected fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results, its fiscal 2027 guidance came up short.
“We aren’t satisfied with our revenue growth guidance,” said GitLab CEO Bill Staples on the earnings call. “Like many companies reaching $1 billion in revenue, our focus has been shifting to scaling our growth.”
But UBS Global Research analyst Karl Keirstead says he believes the guidance is “fine,” especially as it comes amid “a backdrop of negative investor sentiment rooted in persistent concerns about AI-related disruption risk.”
Keirstead maintained his Buy rating on the tech stock after earnings, but lowered his price target to $44 from $51 – still roughly 80% above current levels.
ADP comes in stronger than expected ahead of February jobs data
In economic news, ADP said this morning that private payrolls rose by 63,000 in February, more than the 48,000 jobs economists expected and the best month for job gains since July 2025.
“This increase could be a positive indicator for Friday’s release of the nonfarm payroll number, although ADP revised employment growth downward on net, going back to October of 2025 by 159,000 fewer jobs,” says Eugenio J. Alemán, Ph.D., chief economist, and Giampiero Fuentes, economist at Raymond James.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the February jobs report at 8:30 am Eastern Standard Time on Friday, March 5. Economists expect the U.S. to have added 50,000 new jobs in February and the unemployment rate to remain at 4.3%.
