US shares stayed firmer on Wednesday, with all major indices finally eking out gains as President Donald Trump softened on trade restrictions for three large automakers, reviving hopes that the trade war may not be as bad as it seemed.
The Dow Jones grew 1.14 percent, the S&P 500 rose by 1.12 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.46 percent.
On Wednesday, the White House granted three large automakers a one-month exemption from tariffs after a call with the president, sending their share prices higher during the session.
Ten firms also mirrored the broader optimism, posting strong gains during the day. In this article, we have listed the 10 names and detailed the reasons behind their performance.
To come up with Wednesday’s top gainers, we considered only the stocks with $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.
A person with stock market data on a laptop. Photo by Anna Nekrashevich on Pexels
10. Huntsman Corp. (NYSE:HUN)
Huntsman Corp. saw its share prices increase by 8.85 percent on Wednesday to finish at $17.46 apiece as investors resorted to bargain-hunting following a new all-time low in the prior trading day.
HUN, a multinational manufacturer of chemical products, fell to its lowest price of $15.46 on Tuesday in line with the overall market sentiment after investors sold off positions to mitigate risks from the company’s potential impact from the ongoing trade war between the United States and its largest trading partners.
Manufacturing companies such as HUN are sensitive to any movements in prices of raw materials to manufacture their goods, and with higher tariffs now in place for Canada, Mexico, and China, where some of its facilities are located, the company is expected to face significant pressures on its profit margins.
9. KE Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BEKE)
KE Holdings grew its share prices by 9.23 percent on Wednesday to close at $24.38 apiece as investors repositioned their portfolios ahead of the release of its latest earnings performance in the next few days.
KE, an integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services in China, said that it would announce its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024 before the market opens on Tuesday, March 18.
Just recently, KE earned a ‘strong buy’ rating and a price target of $22.1 from HSBC Global Research, as the company stands to benefit from the booming Chinese real estate market, with 10 signs already showing that it has bottomed out.
According to HSBC, this includes year-on-year growth in new home sales, recovery in housing prices, price expectations reset, a surge in land sales, and foreign investment participation.
It also said that the market experienced continued housing completions, easier access to credit for developers, higher household risk appetite, gradual clearing of real estate inventory, and rental yields becoming more attractive compared to government bond yields.