Wall Street rebounds from US-Iran war shock in Q2
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surges 88% on AI optimism
Wall Street closed out the second quarter on a strong note Tuesday, driven by optimism over AI industry growth. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their best quarterly gains since the pandemic, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index recorded its largest quarterly rise in history.
On the final trading day of the second quarter Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 136.46 points, or 0.26 percent, at 52,319.20.
The S&P 500 rose 58.93 points, or 0.79 percent, to finish at 7,499.36, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 393.58 points, or 1.52 percent, to close at 26,213.72.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Tuesday's gains brought the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to quarterly advances of 15 percent and 21 percent, respectively — their strongest quarterly performances since the second quarter of 2020, six years ago.
The Dow also notched a 9 percent gain for the first half of this year, its best first-half performance since the first half of 2021.
US stocks suffered a sharp correction in March after the US-Iran war, which broke out in late February, sent oil prices surging and raised concerns about private credit defaults. Markets rebounded swiftly from April onward, however, as AI infrastructure investment expanded and corporate earnings improved, particularly among technology companies.
Anthropic's AI coding tool Claude Code was a particular catalyst, demonstrating a credible path to steady revenue from enterprise customers and reigniting expectations for continued AI investment and growth.
Large-cap technology stocks led the advance Tuesday. Nvidia and Apple rose 2.54 percent and 2.70 percent, respectively, driving the broader index higher.
Semiconductor stocks also rallied across the board. SanDisk surged 10.84 percent, while Intel gained 5.95 percent and AMD climbed 7.62 percent. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 3.92 percent on the day.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 88 percent in the second quarter alone, marking the largest quarterly gain in the index's history, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"Despite all the geopolitical anxiety, the US economy is holding up well and corporate earnings remain solid," Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, told Reuters.
moon@heraldcorp.com
