US close: Dow, S&P 500 hit new highs despite geopolitical uncertainty

(Sharecast News) - US stocks rose for the third straight day on Tuesday, pushing both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 to new heights, as investors continued to assess the fallout of Donald Trump's ousting of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. The Dow gained 1.0% to 49,462.08, ending above the 49,000 mark for the first time, registering its second record in as many days. The S&P 500 finished 0.6% up at a new closing high of 6,944.82, topping an earlier peak of 6,932.05

The Nasdaq closed 0.7% higher at 23,547.17, its highest since 26 December and just 1.7% away from its all-time closing high of 23,958.47 reached on 29 October.



Looking further afield, markets in London, Tokyo, Singapore and Busan also hit new record highs on Tuesday.

"A pro-cyclical rally has seen stock indices in Asia, EM and the UK reach record highs in the early days of 2026. This cyclical rally has defied geopolitical fears caused by events in Venezuela. The muted impact from Venezuela is further evidence that financial markets are adept at absorbing geopolitical risks," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

"However, there could be another driver for markets in the coming days. The US Supreme court will rule on the legality of President Trump's global tariffs this Friday, coincidentally the same day that we get December's US Labour market report. The combination of an NFP report and the US court ruling could combine to make it a volatile end to the week."

In other news, the S&P Global US composite PMI for December was revised down to 52.7, 1.5 points lower than November's reading and the initial estimate of 53.0. This was the lowest rate of growth (marked by any figure above 50) in eight months.

Nvidia falls flat

Nvidia erased earlier gains after unveiling a new AI platform which aims to advance fully autonomous driving, and revealing that its new, faster AI chips would be available sooner than expected. After starting the day firmly higher, the stock finished 0.5% in the red.

Speaking at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas, chief executive Jensen Huang introduced Alpamayo, an open-source AI model designed to help self-driving cars reason through complex and rare driving scenarios and explain their decisions in real time. He also used the event to confirm that its next-generation Rubin AI chips were in production and due for release later this year, promising improved energy efficiency and lower development costs.

Meta Platforms edged higher after saying it would pause the planned European rollout of its Ray-Ban Display smartglasses due to surging demand and limited stock in the US.

Chevron, the only remaining major American oil producer in Venezuela, was trading lower following a 5% surge on Monday. Petroleum refiners Valero and Phillips 66, and oilfield services groups SLB and Halliburton, which all put in a strong showing the previous session, were also

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly rose 2% amid speculation that it is nearing a deal to spend more than $1bn on Ventyx Biosciences, a company which specialises in treatments for inflammatory diseases like Crohn's and rheumatoid arthritis. Ventyx shares jumped 29%.



Dow Jones - Risers

Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $330.17 2.95% Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $25.55 2.59% International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $302.45 2.54% Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $262.74 2.53% Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $348.98 2.03% Intel Corp. (INTC) $40.04 1.71% Home Depot Inc. (HD) $349.86 1.68% 3M Co. (MMM) $166.20 1.62% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $109.07 1.52% Nike Inc. (NKE) $65.34 1.26%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $156.82 -4.29% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $262.22 -1.89% Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $285.57 -0.76% Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $75.24 -0.45% Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $139.97 -0.28% Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $67.84 -0.15%

S&P 500 - Risers

Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $219.38 16.77% Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $330.51 14.04% Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $74.91 11.71% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $343.35 10.00% Bath & Body Works, Inc. (BBWI) $22.09 9.22% CenturyLink Inc. (LUMN) $8.27 9.18% Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $192.07 8.41% Albemarle Corp. (ALB) $157.91 8.06% Advance Auto Parts (AAP) $41.31 6.61% DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $12.36 6.46%

S&P 500 - Fallers

American International Group Inc. (AIG) $78.04 -7.51% Johnson Controls International plc (JCI) $114.00 -6.19% Equifax Inc. (EFX) $211.20 -4.34% Chevron Corp. (CVX) $156.82 -4.29% ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $70.90 -3.73% Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) $42.88 -3.57% Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $121.06 -3.43% Arista Networks Inc. (ANET) $132.54 -3.39% Halliburton Co. (HAL) $30.87 -3.29% Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $214.23 -3.10%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $219.38 16.77% Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $330.51 14.04% Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $74.91 11.71% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $343.35 10.00% Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $192.07 8.41% DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $12.36 6.46% Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $206.91 6.24% Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $293.10 5.70% Incyte Corp. (INCY) $106.65 4.77% Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $167.60 4.66%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Qvc Group Inc Series A (QVCGA) $9.02 -7.39% Tesla Inc (TSLA) $433.14 -4.10% Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $27.42 -2.51% Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $146.40 -2.19% Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) $52.72 -1.90% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $262.22 -1.89% Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $254.38 -1.14% T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $198.63 -1.11% American Airlines Group (AAL) $15.66 -1.04% Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $23.52 -1.03%