Wall St rises as yields ease, Moderna lifts healthcare stocks

The main U.S. stock market indexes closed modestly higher on ⁠Wednesday, ⁠as easing government bond yields boosted risk appetites while a ⁠dramatic rally in shares of vaccine-maker Moderna drove gains in the healthcare sector.

Investors barely reacted to minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s ​July meeting, which showed deepening concern about inflation with “several” policymakers ready to raise interest rates. “Many” said a rate hike would be needed if inflation does not decline to the U.S. central bank’s 2% target.

But ‌a day after the yield on the 30-year Treasury ‌bond hit its highest level since 2007, the yield fell on Wednesday along with the 10-year Treasury yield. The moves came after the U.S. Treasury announced it would double the size of liquidity ⁠support buyback operations for longer-dated ⁠bonds.

“The risk-on trade is trying to hang on to the lifeline that Treasury Secretary Bessent sent,” said Carol ​Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Private Wealth, noting that riskier assets including high-profile technology stocks had sold off in recent days as bond yields rose.

Concerns over ballooning government debt and rising inflation had pushed global bond yields to multi-decade highs on Tuesday. Schleif said investors were relieved by the government support as higher rates “could potentially impact the AI trade” as technology companies have been issuing debt and equity and using their ​own cash to fund construction of data centers supporting AI. 

However, equity indexes pared gains as the session wore on. Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial ⁠Advisors, ⁠said investors likely took some profits after ⁠the initial rally and he added that ​the morning’s announcement “doesn’t mean that the longer-term issue of higher rates is off the table.” 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 119.65 points, or 0.22%, to 53,463.05, the S&P ​500 gained 16.22 points, or 0.21%, to 7,707.98 and the ⁠Nasdaq Composite gained 41.38 points, or 0.16%, to 26,331.09. 

Moderna’s shares surged almost 177%, leading S&P 500 gainers in a record rally for the company after it announced  that its personalized mRNA cancer therapy developed with Merck cut the risk of melanoma recurrence and spread in a late-stage trial. Merck shares jumped 12.6% and it was the biggest percentage gainer in the blue-chip Dow and the third-biggest in the S&P 500. 

Moderna’s blistering rally boosted healthcare peers such as Novavax , which finished up 10.8%, and U.S.-listed shares of BioNTech, which vaulted 22%.

The S&P 500 healthcare sector closed up 3.5%, marking its biggest one-day percentage ⁠gain since April 2025. The sector also hit a record high and provided the biggest boost to the S&P 500 from any of its ⁠11 major industry sectors. The Nasdaq biotechnology index also jumped 6.4%.

The second-biggest sector gainer was consumer discretionary,  which added 2%.  

The S&P 500 industrials index led percentage losses among the benchmark’s industry indexes with a 0.9% decline. The S&P 500 information technology index was the next-biggest loser, down 0.7%, with pressure from chip stocks. 

However, Marvell Technologies shares jumped 9.9% after it said it will help develop Google’s in-demand custom chips and has offered the search giant the right to buy a potential $12.2 billion stake.

Marvell was one of the few gainers in the volatile Philadelphia semiconductor index, which ended down 2%. Google parent Alphabet’s shares finished up 0.2%.

On the earnings front, Target shares rose 4.3% after the retailer raised its annual sales forecast. Lowe’s shares gained 2% even after it trimmed its annual sales growth forecast.