Stocks Enjoy Slight Gains After Tuesday Debacle Stocks rose slightly Wednesday as investors tried to find their footing after the biggest one-day drop in more than two years. The Dow Jones Industrials had gained 35.88 points Wednesday noon to 31,140.85 The SP 500 reclaimed 8.59 points to 3,941.25. The NASDAQ Composite hiked 56.2 points to 11,689.79. Merck and Johnson Johnson each rose more than 2% to lead the Dow, while tech giant Apple gained 1.6%. The Dow sank more than 1,200 points Tuesday, or nearly 4%, while the SP 500 lost 4.3%. The NASDAQ Composite dropped 5.2%. It was the biggest one-day slide for all three averages since June 2020. The market moves came after August’s consumer price index report showed headline inflation rose 0.1% on a monthly basis despite a drop in gas prices. The hot inflation report left questions over whether stocks could go back to their June lows or fall even further. It also spurred some fears that the Federal Reserve could potentially hike even higher than the 75 basis points markets are pricing in.