Stock Market Today: Dow Jones, S&P And Nasdaq Rally Following Trump's Joint Session Speech

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s well-received address to Congress Tuesday night, which some called “surprisingly presidential,” major U.S. stock indexes made gains Wednesday, despite the vague nature of the speech and the absence of significant policy changes mentioned in his proposed agenda.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), an index of the share values of 30 large, established companies, jumped nearly 1.5 percent between market close Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, closing at around 21,112 points.

That rise was driven predominantly by spikes in the share prices of megabank JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), financial services corporation American Express Co. (AXP), defense contractor Boeing Co. (BA) and ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), the longtime employer of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, its former CEO. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), a former employer of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Chief Economic Adviser Gary Cohn and Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon, also played a significant part in the Dow’s climb.

The S&P 500 (GSPC) saw a similar rise of 1.4 percent since market close Tuesday to a level of 2,395 points at market close Wednesday, while the Nasdaq Composite index (IXIC) picked up 0.7 percent, hitting 5,904 points by market close.

In his primetime speech, Trump cataloged steps his administration had already taken to cut regulatory measures meant to stave off corruption or protect consumers and the environment, but which can also create hurdles and reduce profits for corporations.

“We have undertaken a historic effort to massively reduce job‑crushing regulations,” he said, pointing to a Jan. 30 executive order mandating that for every new regulatory measure introduced by a non-independent federal agency, two must be offered to the Office of Management and Budget for removal, and requiring a net cost “no greater than zero” for every new rule, an effectively impossible standard.

Trump additionally dismantled an Environmental Protection Agency rule defining which U.S. water bodies are under government protection Tuesday, and directed his acting labor secretary to evaluate a financial industry regulation protecting investors from advisers’ conflicts of interests, the implementation of which the department head delayed Wednesday morning.

Trump also touched on his tax plan, for which he provided no new details for the reform proposal, which Mnuchin has said will arrive no later than August.

“Right now, American companies are taxed at one of the highest rates anywhere in the world,” Trump said. “My economic team is developing historic tax reform that will reduce the tax rate on our companies so they can compete and thrive anywhere and with anyone.”