Stock Market News for Oct 7, 2026 Zacks Equity Research Wed, October 7, 2026 at 3:44 AM EDT 2 min read ^DJI +0.49% ^GSPC +0.58% ^IXIC +0.45% XLU +2.98% CL=F +0.38% Trade XLU on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday as easing concerns over oil supply helped support market sentiment, while strong import demand pointed to resilient economic activity and kept inflation and Fed policy expectations in focus. The Nasdaq Composite, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended in positive territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.5%, or 253.14 points, to close at 51,521.04. Twenty-one components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory; nine ended in negative territory.The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5% to close at 27,599.79. The S&P 500 gained 0.6% to end at 7,818.95. Out of the 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index, 10 ended in positive territory, while one was in negative territory. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU), the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) rose 3%, 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) fell 0.2%.
The major gainer of the S&P 500 Index was Ciena Corporation CIEN after its shares rose 13.9%. Ciena currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.The fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), decreased by 3.3% to 15.01. A total of 16.50 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 17.51 billion. The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and two new lows, and the Nasdaq Composite recorded 61 new highs and 182 new lows.
Crude oil finished Tuesday's trading session relatively flat. Stronger export volumes of Middle Eastern crude helped ease supply concerns, but the ongoing Yemen Houthis attacks on Gulf oil supplies continue to be a concern for the market. Brent crude finished up 1% at $101.62 a barrel on the session, while WTI crude finished up 0.9% at $90.26 a barrel. Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the goods and services deficit was $105.6 billion in August, more than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $101.9 billion. The metric for July was revised upward to a deficit of $92.8 billion from $88.6 billion reported earlier. With imports rising sharply, the larger trade deficit will be viewed as another sign of strong domestic activity that could fuel inflation and put Federal Reserve interest rates in focus.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).