S&P 500, Nasdaq end higher as tech stocks shine

STORY: Technology shares boosted U.S. stocks Wednesday.The Dow finished flat while the S&P 500 rose six tenths of one percent and the Nasdaq added more than one percent.The S&P and Nasdaq notched new closing highs.Chip stocks and other artificial intelligence-related megacaps gave the market a lift as they have for most of 2025. Adam Coons, chief investment officer with Winthrop Capital Management says he thinks stocks have become expensive and investors need to be cautious."And so the thing that's giving us unease is that, you know, valuations are stretched. So there's one thing.You've got this AI story that kind of seems to be a little bit out of control, a little bit circular, and we really don't know who the winners and losers are going to be because it's very early in this game. It's very similar to the beginning of kind of the Internet story. And so and then you've obviously got a lot of geopolitical issues that you can't ignore either. DC is a little bit unstable, and so you've got a lot of things kind of use the term ingredients in the soup."The U.S. government shutdown entered its eighth day.A congressional stalemate appeared to suggest market participants will lack official economic indicators for the immediate future and will have little to go on until third-quarter earnings season kicks off next week.Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting last month showed most participants indicated it likely would be appropriate to keep cutting interest rates over the remainder of the year.Though, the timing and pace of further moves remained an open question.Stocks on the move included Dell which jumped nine percent to a 52-week high after several brokerages raised their price targets.And Best Buy gained two percent after broker Jefferies raised its price target on the stock.