Dow Jones Rises Over 100 Points; Target Posts Better-Than-Expected Q2 Results

U.S. stocks traded higher early Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising more than 100 points.

When markets opened Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.25% to 53,476.44 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.10% to 26,317.02 points. The S&P 500 also advanced, up 0.37% to 7,719.97 points.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare stocks surged 3.1% on Wednesday.

Information technology stocks fell 0.3% in Wednesday trading.

Headlines

Target Corp reported better-than-expected second-quarter results on Wednesday.

The company reported quarterly earnings per share of $2.46, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $2.33. The company reported quarterly sales of $26.539 billion, exceeding the analyst consensus estimate of $26.141 billion.

Target raised its fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings per share guidance from $8.50 to $9.90-$10.90, while increasing its sales forecast from $108.971 billion to $110.019 billion.

Stocks Rising

Yunji Inc shares surged 156% to $4.46. Yunji will report its first-half 2026 financial results on August 20.

Tenon Medical Inc shares rallied sharply, surging 110% to $11.45, after the company received a notice of allowance for a U.S. patent titled "Systems, Devices and Methods for Stabilizing a Sacroiliac Joint."

Moderna Inc shares also rose, gaining 100% to $125.70, after the company and Merck announced top-line results from the Phase III INTerpath-001 trial, which met its primary endpoint and a key secondary endpoint.

Stocks Falling

Profusa Inc shares fell 46% to $14.77, after the stock had surged approximately 507% on Tuesday.

Wetour Robotics Ltd shares declined 30% to $23.18.

CID HoldCo Inc dropped, falling 23% to $0.49, after the company announced additional Nasdaq listing deficiencies and a loan default.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil prices rose 0.6% to $85.45, while gold gained 0.1% to $4,423.10.

Silver fell 0.4% to $63.810 on Wednesday, and copper declined 1% to $6.4260.

Eurozone

European stocks were mostly lower today. The Eurozone STOXX 600 index fell 0.1%, Spain's IBEX 35 declined 0.1%, London's FTSE 100 dropped 0.1%, Germany's DAX fell 0.2%, and France's CAC 40 gained 0.3%.

Asia-Pacific Markets

Asia-Pacific markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 3.16%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rising 0.09%, China's Shanghai Composite declining 2.40%, and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.42%.

Economic Data

Mortgage applications fell 0.4% in the second week of August.