S&P 500 closes at 7,709 as Nasdaq leads a tech-driven rally

As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 19, 2026.

CLOSING BELL

U.S. Markets

4:00pm ET

S&P 500+0.66%
Dow Jones Industrial Average-0.01%
Nasdaq Composite+1.35%

Tech did all the work today: the Nasdaq added 1.35% while the Dow finished flat. Positioning ahead of this week's AI earnings is where the gap gets settled.

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The S&P 500 closed at 7,709.63, up about 0.66%, with the advance building steadily into the final stretch of the session.

The Nasdaq Composite was the clear outperformer, rising 1.35% on the day while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished essentially flat. That divergence points squarely at large-cap technology as the engine of the session's gains.

The gap between the Nasdaq and the Dow reflects positioning ahead of major AI-related earnings due this week. When traders are selectively loading into the names most exposed to a single theme, index-level gains can obscure just how concentrated the buying actually is.

For investors watching the S&P 500 as a whole, the close above 7,700 is a level worth tracking as the earnings reports arrive. A strong showing from AI-linked companies extends the Nasdaq's lead, while disappointment tests whether the rest of the market has enough momentum to hold recent gains without tech's help.

Related Market Updates

NEW ETF LAUNCHES 3 new ETFs hit the market · Oct 19

4:30pm ET

AHICAllspring Short-Term High Income Fundfixed-income0.45%
AIBNDefiance AI Infrastructure Bond ETFfixed-income0.41%
SQBRFT Vest U.S. Equity Quarterly 20 Barrier ETFalternative0.85%

Two of today's three launches are fixed income, and Defiance's AI Infrastructure Bond ETF is the standout: a credit wrapper on the data center buildout for 0.41%. First Trust's quarterly 20 barrier fund rounds it out at 0.85%.

Biggest movers · At the close 4:10pm ET

Gainers

APLDApplied Digital$19.3+6.9%
SNDKSanDisk$1,375.53+5.9%
WDCWestern Digital$351.5+5.9%
DDOGDatadog$260.75+5.5%
SKHYSK hynix$143.44+5.1%

Losers

SESea$88.75-5.3%
HONAHoneywell Aerospace$162.57-3.3%
HDBHDFC Bank$23.1-3.1%
OPENOpendoor Technologies$2.05-3.1%
CEGConstellation Energy$263.36-3.0%

Applied Digital closed up 6.93%, the widest gain in a 385-name priority universe, with Sea at the other end down 5.35%.

PRESS RELEASE NVIDIA

2:00pm ET

NVIDIA Runs Record Simulation of Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing at Jülich Supercomputing Centre

Nvidia is positioning its GPUs as the toolchain every quantum player has to rent before building hardware: the JUPITER exascale run validated a design needing 90% fewer physical qubits. That turns quantum rivals into customers for cuQuantum and CUDA-Q, extending the accelerated-computing franchise into a field often framed as a long-term threat.

MIDDAY

U.S. Markets

12:00pm ET

S&P 500+0.82%
Dow Jones Industrial Average+0.17%
Nasdaq Composite+1.52%

Tech is carrying the entire session: the Nasdaq is up 1.52% while the Dow adds just 0.17%. Own the broad index and you are mostly along for a growth-stock ride at midday.

CLOSING BELL

Europe

11:35am ET

🇬🇧 FTSE 100-1.43%
🇩🇪 DAX-1.77%
🇫🇷 CAC 40-1.70%

Europe closed broadly in the red, with the DAX down 1.77%. US investors with European exposure start the week behind.

DeItaone @deitaone

10:26am ET

Riyadh calling off the in-person Future Investment Initiative signals the Houthi threat is now severe enough to keep global dealmakers out of the kingdom, and that freezes the Gulf capital pipeline Wall Street has been courting.

SAUDI ARABIA TO POSTPONE IN-PERSON ‘DAVOS IN THE DESERT’ EVENT AFTER HOUTHI ATTACKS - FT

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DeItaone @deitaone

10:00am ET

A record 43% of builders are discounting, which means margin compression is already showing up across homebuilders and the suppliers selling into them.

U.S. HOUSING MARKET CONFIDENCE HITS 14-YEAR LOW U.S. homebuilder sentiment fell to 29 in October, its lowest since June 2012, as mortgage rates climbed above 7%. A record-high 43% of builders cut prices, with average discounts of 6%, while nearly two-thirds offered sales

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SE Sea

Regular session

10:00am ET

$88.08

-5.29% open $93.00

A 5.3% slide to $88.08 takes nearly $3 billion off the Southeast Asia e-commerce giant's $49.9 billion market cap in a single session. Moves this size are rare intraday for a name this large, so the $93 open is the level to watch for any recovery.

Biggest movers · On the open 9:51am ET

Gainers

GPROGoPro$1.16+10.3%
MRNAModerna$235.83+8.2%
SNDKSanDisk$1,382.56+6.4%
DDOGDatadog$261.02+5.6%
APLDApplied Digital$19.07+5.6%

Losers

HDBHDFC Bank$23.02-3.4%
SESea$90.77-3.2%
BCSBarclays$22.33-2.0%
NFLXNetflix$69.16-1.9%
NGGNational Grid$79.65-1.9%

GoPro's 10.3% jump leads the open, with Moderna close behind and the entire downside capped under 3.5%. Across the priority names, the gains are doing all the work this morning.

DeItaone @deitaone

9:39am ET

Russia's foreign minister pushing to reopen Hormuz and restart Yemen talks is the first de-escalation signal since tanker attacks began rerouting Gulf shipping, and any easing drains the war premium out of crude and tanker rates.

*LAVROV CALLS FOR RESTORING FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION IN HORMUZ *LAVROV URGES RETURN TO PRE-CRISIS MIDEAST CONDITIONS *LAVROV CALLS FOR RESUMPTION OF YEMEN NEGOTIATIONS

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Bespoke @bespokeinvest

9:28am ET

Buying into the worst crash day in market history was worth 698 percentage points of extra return versus buying three days earlier, a reminder of what panic selling costs on the 39th anniversary.

S&P 500 from the close on 10/16/1987 (pre-crash) through Friday: +2,609% (8.82% annualized). From the Black Monday close on 10/19/87: +3,307% (9.46% annualized). Three days, 698%.

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