The Final Tally: Dow Surges Off Trump Love Letter (AppLovin Becomes Big Techs MVP)

It's Thursday, and Wall Street just got the closest thing to a love letter from Donny Politics—he teased tariffs, hinted at trade war 2.0, then promptly did absolutely nothing. And because nothing is better than something (when that something involves economic pissing matches with countries who couldn’t tie the U.S.A’s shoes—’Merica!), the Dow ripped 343 points while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq popped 1.04% and 1.5%, respectively.

(Source: Giphy) 

Look, it's no secret that all week, traders have been sweating over whether Trump would go full protectionist mode and start blasting tariffs on foreign imports like Kendrick blasted Drake's name at the Super Bowl. Instead, he signed a presidential memorandum to “examine” reciprocal tariffs, which really only means “he’ll get back to us on it”. Meaning, Wall Street gets to breathe, for now. But he did drop a little hint that auto tariffs might still be on the menu, which means European carmakers are probably punching air as we speak.

On the corporate side, Nvidia tacked on another 3.2%, because Hewlett Packard Enterprise just shipped its first Blackwell-powered AI system. At this point, Nvidia could sell a GPU made out of cardboard and investors would still send the stock higher.

(Source: Giphy) 

But the real show-stealer? AppLovin, which skyrocketed 24% after earnings. If you’re wondering how the hell a mobile ad-tech company became the best-performing tech stock of 2025, you’re not alone. But apparently, AI-powered ad targeting is the new hotness, and AppLovin is backing up the friggin’ Brinks truck to it. 

Meanwhile, Tesla decided to stop getting dunked on for five minutes and ripped 5.9%, because Musk fanboys always find a reason to keep the dream alive. What’s more is that casino stocks hit their own jackpot today after MGM Resorts crushed earnings, with the stock ripping 18%—its best day since the world was ending in March 2020. Caesars and Las Vegas Sands followed suit, adding 8% and 1%, respectively. Apparently, China is back to blowing money in Macau, and U.S. gamblers haven’t figured out how to quit while they’re ahead LOL.

(Source: Giphy) 

On the flip side, defense stocks took a gut punch after Trump said defense spending might get slashed in half. Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics all slid more than 1%, because nothing kills a good war budget like a president making fiscal responsibility cool again (looking at you, USAID). 

The bottom line here? When it came to tariffs, Trump talked tough, but didn’t actually do anything. Inflation flirted with bad news, but didn’t totally wreck the vibe. Nvidia kept doing Nvidia things, and gamblers (both in casinos and on Robinhood) are still having a blast. 

(Source: Giphy) 

For now, Wall Street gets to keep the rally alive—that is, until the market does the one thing it loves best: Reacting violently to news that may or may not have even happened yet. Until next time, friends… 

If you read all of this, congrats for having a 10 second attention span (better than me). As always, here’s our heatmap for today.

Stocks.News holds positions in Tesla and Robinhood as mentioned in the article.