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.
8. Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA)
Stellantis rallied by 9.24 percent on Wednesday to finish at $12.89 per share as investors welcomed news that the White House granted the three largest automakers a one-month tariff exemption after a call with President Donald Trump.
STLA, alongside Ford and General Motors, were given a one-month tax reprieve on their autos coming through US, Mexico, and Canada until April 1.
“Reciprocal tariffs will still go into effect on April 2nd, but at the request of the companies associated with USMCA (US-Mexico-Canada Agreement), the president is giving them an exemption for one month so that they are not at an economic disadvantage,” read White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
However, STLA warned its US dealers on Wednesday that the now-in-effect 25-percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will put their products at a disadvantage against competitors from Asia and Europe.
7. Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE:BF-B)
Brown-Forman grew its share prices by 10.09 percent on Wednesday to end at $35.99 apiece as investors scrambled to snap up shares in the company ahead of its dividend payout to shareholders of record date March 7, 2025.
In its latest earnings release, BF declared a cash dividend of $0.2265 per share on its Class A and B common shares, payable on April 1, 2025.
BF, a member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index, boasts itself as a regular payer of quarterly cash dividends for 81 consecutive years. It said that it has increased the regular dividend for its shareholders for 41 consecutive years.
Despite dismal earnings performance last year, with net income falling by 6 percent and net sales by dropping 3 percent year-on-year, the company remains optimistic to post growth for the fiscal year 2025.
According to BF, organic net sales are expected to settle between 2 to 4 percent.
6. CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ:CLSK)
CleanSpark surged by 10.18 percent on Wednesday to finish at $8.55 each as investors cheered news of higher Bitcoin mining produced last month.
According to CLSK’s monthly report, it mined a total of 624 bitcoins, pushing its total ownership to 11,177 as of February 28. It also sold 2.73 bitcoins during the month and operated at 40.7 EH/S.
“As we look ahead, we are on schedule to reach 50 EH/s by June 30, 2025, and continue to invest in the power pipeline required to support 60 EH/s and beyond,” said CLSK President and CEO Zach Bradford.
“February demonstrated the value of our pure play Bitcoin mining strategy. We focus exclusively on bitcoin and continuously improve on our leading operational excellence as we continue to add to our treasury,” he added.
5. Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd. (NYSE:YMM)
Full Truck Alliance rose for a second day on Wednesday, jumping 13.62 percent to finish at $13.26 apiece as investors cheered the company’s upgraded rating from an investment bank despite posting mixed earnings performance last year.
On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley raised YMM’s price target to $15 from $4 previously, representing a 10-percent upside from its latest stock price.
It also maintained an “overweight” rating for the company, signaling a positive outlook.
While YMM saw lower net income in the fourth quarter of the year, net profit, however, went higher on a full-year basis.
Morgan Stanley said the updated rating was based on its optimism about YMM’s future, particularly from the strategic shift in its revenue composition by reducing reliance on lower-margin freight brokerage business that is expected to enhance its profit margins in the future.
4. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB)
Deutsche Bank rallied by 13.77 percent on Wednesday to finish at $23.88 each as investor sentiment was fueled by optimism that the next German government will implement fiscal reforms to allow more spending on defense and infrastructure projects.
Following the news, Germany’s 10-year government bond yield surged by 2.78 percent.
The higher spending spells good news for the German and larger European economy, including DB.
According to reports on Tuesday, Germany’s conservative Union bloc and the Social Democratic Party shook hands in adjusting constitutional debt brake system to allow defense spending to exceed 1 percent of Germany’s gross domestic product.
They also announced as much as 500 billion euros ($535 billion) in special funds for infrastructure projects.
The expected fiscal reforms could signal increased demand for financial services, which would largely benefit banks including DB.
3. Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)
Moderna shares rose for a second day on Wednesday, adding 15.94 percent to finish at $35.21 apiece as investors gobbled up shares in the company following an announcement that it anticipates the release of a personalized cancer vaccine, which it was developing with Merck Co., by 2027.
Efficacy of the vaccine is currently at 50 percent, but the company was looking to surpass such target, although the actual efficacy rate will only be determined after further case accrual.
At present, the company is conducting a late-stage trial for a skin cancer vaccine, which, according to MRNA President Stephen Hogek, could rapidly realize revenues.
A phase three study for the vaccine had been enrolled on September 2024.
Last month, MRNA also surged following news that a new bat coronavirus carries the risk of animal-to-human transmission, fueling optimism of higher vaccine sales.
2. VNET Group Inc. (NASDAQ:VNET)
VNET grew its share prices by 16.43 percent on Wednesday—a second consecutive day—to close at $12.47 apiece, as investors continued to snap up shares in the company ahead of its earnings release on March 26, 2025.
In particular, investors will be looking out for cues on its capital expenditure program and its allocation to projects related to Artificial Intelligence. Last year, the company signaled plans to invest heavily in AI, saying that it would earmark a higher capital for this year to support growth.
VNET, one of the leading carriers and cloud-neutral internet data center service providers in China, has been benefiting from China’s AI industry over the past few months on expectations that any advancement would bolster its business growth.
Since DeepSeek’s emergence, various Chinese firms, including the biggest ones listed on the US exchange, have kicked off their efforts to integrate DeepSeek into their operations.
1. AST SpaceMobile Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)
AST SpaceMobile jumped by 18.14 percent on Wednesday to finish at $33.8 apiece as investors continued to gobble up shares following recently bagged deals and beating analysts’ earnings estimates.
The company, which reported its earnings results on Monday, beat earnings per share estimates by 6 cents, ending at -$0.12 versus a -$0.18 estimate.
ASTS, however, posted a 244-percent higher net loss in full-year 2024 at $300 million versus the $87 million registered in 2023.
Net loss in the fourth quarter alone also grew by 12 percent to $35.8 million from $31.9 million in the same period a year earlier.
Among its significant business updates, AST SpaceMobile, Inc. said it officially clinched a definitive commercial agreement with Vodafone through 2034 to establish a framework to offer SpaceMobile service in its 20+ countries across Europe and Africa.
It also secured a contract with the US Space Development Agency, which is expected to rake in $43 million in revenues.
While we acknowledge the potential of ASTS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ASTS but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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