US equities steadied Wednesday after Tuesday's bond-market tantrum dragged the major indices lower, with the S&P 500 up 0.4% and the Dow adding 0.5% by 10:30 a.m. Eastern while the Nasdaq barely moved. The turnaround coincided with a sharp drop in the 30-year Treasury yield to 5.209% from its highest level since 2007, a move that carried more weight than the index points themselves.
The yield retreat that changed the day
The Treasury's decision to double its liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated bonds did what months of jawboning could not: it forced a bid into the back end of the curve and gave equity investors permission to stop selling. Yields had climbed on Tuesday amid worry over rising government debt and geopolitical noise; the buyback announcement reframed the supply story overnight. Gold caught the same bid, with spot prices jumping 3.5% to $4,486.88 an ounce as the dollar weakened.
Moderna's trial turns biotech into a momentum trade
Moderna shares more than doubled, rising over 150%, after the company said its personalized mRNA cancer vaccine developed with Merck cut the risk of melanoma recurrence and spread in a late-stage trial. Merck added 9.6%. The rally spread to Novavax, up 6.8%, and US-listed BioNTech, up 17.5%, suggesting the market is pricing a platform victory rather than a single asset. Whether the trial design supports that extrapolation is a question for later; today the tape simply said yes.
Chip names diverge on Google warrant news
Marvell Technology climbed about 9% after disclosing that Alphabet's Google holds a warrant to buy a stake valued at roughly $12.18 billion. Broadcom, meanwhile, fell more than 4% after a run that left it vulnerable to profit-taking. The split highlights how semiconductor sentiment has become a game of catalyst roulette, one company gets a strategic lifeline, another gets sold because it went up too much last week.
Retail splits on guidance, gold catches a bid
Target gained 3.3% after raising its full-year sales outlook, while Lowe's advanced 1.8% despite lowering its sales-growth forecast. Estee Lauder jumped more than 14% on a profit projection above consensus. The dispersion suggests investors are rewarding clarity over magnitude, a raise is a raise, a cut is a cut, and a beat is a beat, even if the underlying consumer is the same.
What to watch: Fed minutes and the Strait of Hormuz
Minutes from the Fed's July meeting arrive later Wednesday, offering the next test of whether policymakers see the recent yield backup as tightening they can welcome or a financial-condition shock they must offset. Meanwhile, President Trump said the Strait of Hormuz remains open to shipping, contradicting Iran's claim that it is closed. Oil edged up 0.5% to $91.45 a barrel on Brent, pricing the uncertainty rather than the resolution.