Stocks Get Boost From Chipmakers as Oil Declines: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — A resurgence in giant chipmakers powered a rebound on Wall Street, with stocks also rising amid a decline in oil prices as traders looked past fresh hostilities between the US and Iran.
The Nasdaq 100 added 1.6%. A gauge of semiconductor firms climbed 3.1%. Micron Technology Inc. plans to increase spending on new plants in the US to $250 billion to help meet demand fueled by the artificial-intelligence boom. SK Hynix Inc.’s US listing was said to be more than seven times oversubscribed, underscoring strong appetite for the South Korean chipmaker.
A wild ride for tech stocks in recent weeks has left investors looking for fresh validation of the AI trade. While semiconductor shares just wrapped up their best quarter on record, there have been growing doubts over rising competition, potential overcapacity and the payoff from massive investments.
Those questions have intensified at a time when geopolitical risks resurface, with the US and Iran trading airstrikes. But markets treated the attacks as another round of managed escalation based on the premise that the economy can absorb the shock, noted Elias Haddad at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
“Investors are much more focused on the upcoming earnings season than they are on the geopolitical front,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak.
Amid ongoing debate about the economy, inflation, rates and geopolitics, the market’s direction over the next month may come down to earnings, according to Anthony Saglimbene at Ameriprise.
“Companies will need to do more than just beat estimates,” he said. “They will need to show that margins are holding at high levels, that guidance remains firm and probably even better than analysts currently project, and that tech-led profit growth still has enough breadth to support the market’s valuation.”
At Edward Jones, Brock Weimer says earnings growth is expected to remain robust in 2026, adding that there are limited signs that companies are meaningfully slowing AI-related spending.
AI is likely to remain a key driver of markets during the second half of 2026, but the narrative is evolving, and this transition may create a more selective environment, according to Jeff Buchbinder at LPL Financial. Investors should focus less on who is spending the most and more on who is generating measurable returns from those investments, he said.
Elsewhere, an auction of 30-year Treasuries drew the highest yield in nearly two decades, underscoring how swelling bond supply is driving investors to demand bigger returns from government debt.
Corporate Highlights:
Meta Platforms Inc. unveiled a version of its most-advanced AI model that includes a new paid tier for developers, marking the first time it has charged businesses for access to its models and providing a new revenue stream. Anthropic is “currently the leader in AI,” Elon Musk said in a post on X, adding that he was “clearly wrong” about the company. OpenAI is introducing a new AI agent that’s meant to field a wider range of complex tasks for hours at a time, bolstering its push to appeal to more business professionals. S&P Global Ratings downgraded Oracle Corp. to the lowest investment-grade rating, moving the firm to the cusp of junk status amid growing spending on AI. Starbucks Corp. is developing in-house tools with the help of AI that could replace some software applications it now buys from companies such as Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.6% The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% The MSCI World Index rose 0.8% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1428 The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3409 The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 162.37 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 1.8% to $63,151.02 Ether rose 0.6% to $1,745.54 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.55% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.08% Britain’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 4.90% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.2% to $71.87 a barrel Spot gold rose 1.1% to $4,121.67 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
