How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 2/18/2026

The U.S. stock market ticked higher, led by its most influential stock, Nvidia.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% Wednesday after paring a gain that briefly reached 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.8%.

Nvidia was the strongest force lifting the market after Meta Platforms announced a deal to use millions of its chips in AI data centers.

Treasury yields climbed following several reports on the U.S. economy that were stronger than economists expected.

On Wednesday:

The S&P 500 rose 38.09 points, or 0.6%, to 6,881.31.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 129.47 points, or 0.3%, to 49,662.66.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 12.02 points, or 0.5%, to 2,658.61.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is up 45.14 points, or 0.7%.

The Dow is up 161.73 points, or 0.3%.

The Nasdaq is up 206.96 points, or 0.9%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 35.81 points, or 0.5%.

The Dow is up 1,599.37 points, or 3.3%.

The Nasdaq is down 488.36 points, or 2.1%.