AMD, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Progressive, and More

Major U.S. equities indexes climbed Wednesday afternoon in the wake of strong bank earnings and indications of more Federal Reserve rate cuts ahead. The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow were all higher.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surged, leading broader gains for semiconductor companies a day after the chipmaker announced a deal to sell chips to Oracle (ORCL).

Also helping lift semiconductor stocks was an update from chipmaking equipment manufacturer ASML (ASML), which said AI-driven demand was strong.

Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC) gained after both financial firms reported better-than-expected results on booming investment banking revenue.

Bunge Global (BG) was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 as the soybean exporter stands to benefit from soybean trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

Progressive (PGR) shares slumped after the insurer reported its combined ratio rose on higher costs.

Shares of F5 (FFIV) also dropped after the cloud services firm reported a cyberattack by government hackers.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) shares declined after the drugmaker cut the top end of its earnings guidance on concerns about the impact of tariffs. 

Gold price climbed to a fresh high, while oil futures slid. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was little changed. The U.S. dollar lost ground to the euro, pound, and yen. Prices for most major cryptocurrencies were higher.