Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed higher after buyers turned a difficult session for technology shares into a recovery. The Nasdaq 100 could not quite complete the comeback, but its modest decline looked considerably better than the losses earlier in the day.
The Dow industrial average led the large-cap indices higher, with Nike topping its percentage gainers. Small caps also participated, with the Russell 2000 rising 1.38%. The recovery extended beyond the biggest technology names, although pockets of heavy selling remained among semiconductor and AI infrastructure shares.
The closing numbers
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Dow Industrial Average: +557.06 points, or +1.08%, at 52,183.23.
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S&P 500: +25.15 points, or +0.33%, at 7,744.09.
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Nasdaq Composite: +20.16 points, or +0.08%, at 26,713.03.
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Russell 2000: +37.74 points, or +1.38%, at 2,767.28.
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Nasdaq 100: −15.22 points, or −0.05%, at 29,935.59.
Those closing changes do not tell the whole story.
At the lows, the S&P was down 49.28 points. The Nasdaq Composite was down 384.02 points, while the Nasdaq 100 was down 542.40 points.
By the close, the S&P had recovered 74.43 points from its low, and the Nasdaq Composite had recovered 404.18 points. The Nasdaq 100 briefly traded up 34.81 points before slipping back below unchanged.
The Dow had a different day. It stayed positive throughout the session, with even its low showing a gain of around 60 points.
The sellers had their shot in the broader indices. They could not keep the downside momentum going.
Nike leads the Dow’s percentage gainers
Nike rose 5.27%, leading a strong group of Dow performers. The gain today was a welcome bounce in what has been a difficult year. Even after closing at $37.16, the shares remain down roughly 42% in 2026, underscoring how much ground buyers still need to recover. The low after earnings on October 1 reached $31.97. That was the lowest level going back to 2013. Leading the Dow’s percentage gainers gives buyers something to build on, but one strong session does not reverse the broader trend. The next test is whether today’s buying attracts follow-through. The top 5 winners in the Dow today were:
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Nike: +5.27%.
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Salesforce: +4.52%.
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Home Depot: +4.33%.
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Sherwin-Williams: +3.83%.
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UnitedHealth: +2.83%.
That strength helped distinguish the Dow from the more technology-heavy Nasdaq indices.
The Magnificent 7 finish mixed
The biggest technology names did not move together:
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Microsoft: +1.08%.
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Alphabet: +0.45%.
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Amazon: +0.27%.
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Meta: −0.11%.
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Apple: −0.28%.
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Tesla: −1.29%.
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Nvidia: −1.84%.
Nvidia deserves a closer look. The shares closed at $217.23 after falling to $212.85 earlier in the session. That low briefly took the price below both its 100-day moving average at $214.47 and the 38.2% retracement at $213.15. Buyers responded, pushing the price back above both technical levels.
The stock still finished lower, but the recovery gives traders a defined area to watch. Stay above that support area, and buyers have something to build on. Move back below it and stay below it, and the recovery becomes more vulnerable.
Big winners—and losses that did not disappear
Among the stronger individual performers:
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Roblox: +7.57%.
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Macy’s: +6.75%.
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AppLovin: +6.52%.
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Intuit: +6.36%.
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Coinbase: +6.32%.
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SoFi Technologies: +6.12%.
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CoreWeave: +5.96%.
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Lennar: +5.66%.
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Strategy: +5.62%.
However, the index recovery did not erase the damage everywhere. Several chip, networking and AI infrastructure shares still finished sharply lower:
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Dell Technologies: −6.92%.
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Arista Networks: −5.05%.
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Applied Materials: −3.72%.
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Vertiv: −3.61%.
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Cisco: −3.35%.
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Lam Research: −3.30%.
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Intel: −2.81%.
CoreWeave’s gain also shows why traders need to judge individual stocks on their own price action. Even within a related group, the results can differ considerably.
Trading lesson: a recovery needs follow-through
A sharp intraday recovery tells us that sellers could not maintain control through the close. That matters. It does not, by itself, confirm that the broader decline is over.
Nvidia provides a practical example. Its moving average and retracement gave traders a support area against which to define risk. Sellers briefly pushed below it, but could not sustain the break.
Now the buyers need to build on that defense.
The same principle applies to the broader market heading into Friday: today’s recovery gives buyers a starting point. Holding the recovery and reclaiming overhead resistance would give them more control. Renewed selling that erases the rebound would weaken their case.
Watch the levels, define the risk, and wait for the next shove.
Related analysis
Nvidia has gapped to the downside and tested a key technical target area. What next?
This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.