Major US stock indices closed higher on Tuesday, concluding a robust first half and second quarter of 2026. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 8.85% in the first half of the year, marking its best first-half performance since 2021, when it rose 12.7%. The S&P 500 index advanced 9.55% over the same period, while the Nasdaq Composite performed even better with a gain of approximately 12.8%. Furthermore, the Russell 2000 index surged over 21%, recording its strongest first-half showing since the first six months of 1991.
The memory and semiconductor sectors were particularly strong performers. SanDisk (SNDK.US) skyrocketed 857%, leading the gains among S&P 500 constituents. Micron Technology (MU.US) soared 304%, pushing its market capitalization above $1 trillion for the first time. Intel (INTC.US) jumped 278% and Western Digital (WDC.US) climbed 270%.
Among the so-called "Magnificent Seven" stocks for the first half, Microsoft (MSFT.US) led the declines, falling over 22%. Tesla (TSLA.US) dropped 6%, and Meta Platforms (META.US) declined 14%. On the positive side, Alphabet (Class A shares: GOOGL.US, GOOG.US) gained 14%. Apple (AAPL.US) rose 6%, Amazon (AMZN.US) increased 3%, and Nvidia (NVDA.US) advanced 7%.
US Market Performance
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 136.46 points, or 0.26%, at 52,319.20. The Nasdaq Composite gained 393.58 points, or 1.52%, to 26,213.72. The S&P 500 index added 58.93 points, or 0.79%, closing at 7,499.36.
Apple (AAPL.US) and Nvidia (NVDA.US) rose more than 2%. Micron Technology (MU.US) gained nearly 1%, SpaceX (SPCX.US) climbed 4%, and SanDisk (SNDK.US) surged over 10%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed 0.63% higher, with XPeng (XPEV.US) rising 3.4%.
European Market Performance
The German DAX 30 index increased by 359.11 points, or 1.46%, to 24,995.27. The UK's FTSE 100 index added 19.74 points, or 0.19%, to 10,503.96. The French CAC 40 index rose 36.66 points, or 0.44%, to 8,403.99. The Euro Stoxx 50 index gained 93.33 points, or 1.50%, to 6,324.96. Spain's IBEX 35 index was up 83.26 points, or 0.43%, at 19,470.66. Italy's FTSE MIB index advanced 537.30 points, or 1.05%, to 51,700.50.
Asian Market Performance
Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.86%, while South Korea's KOSPI index fell 0.97%.
Currency Market
The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.08% to settle at 101.187. In late New York trading, one euro was worth $1.1420, down from $1.1425 in the previous session. One British pound was worth $1.3255, down from $1.3257. One US dollar bought 162.62 Japanese yen, up from 161.97 yen. It bought 0.8083 Swiss francs, up from 0.8075. One US dollar traded for 1.4204 Canadian dollars, up from 1.4203. It was worth 9.7005 Swedish kronor, down from 9.7084.
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell over 2.8% to $58,612.93. Ethereum declined more than 2.5% to $1,571.73.
Crude Oil
September Brent crude futures settled 1.3% lower at $72.95 per barrel. August WTI crude futures dropped 1.8% to settle at $69.50 per barrel. For the first half of the year, WTI crude gained 21.6% and Brent crude rose 20%.
Precious and Base Metals
Spot gold fell 1.75% to $4,016.45 per ounce. Spot silver edged higher to $58.293 per ounce. The first half of 2026 concluded for major commodities. Precious metals mostly rose before retreating from highs. Spot gold fell over 7% for the half, retreating more than $1,500 from its record high earlier this year. Spot silver declined approximately 18%, more than halving from its all-time high set this year. Spot platinum fell over 24% and spot palladium dropped nearly 25%. Among base metals, LME copper hit a new high for the year and gained 7% for the half. LME aluminum rose 3.7%.
Key Economic Updates
Business activity in the Chicago region cooled in June. A monthly survey released Tuesday showed activity slowed this month but remained better than expected. The Chicago Business Barometer fell to 56.7 in June from 62.7 in May, which was the highest reading since January 2022. Economists had forecast a reading of 55. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. This marks the second consecutive month the index has remained above 50. The survey indicated the decline was driven by drops in new orders and production, though increases in supplier deliveries, order backlogs, and employment partially offset the fall. The new orders index fell 11.7 points after a strong increase in May. The production index dropped 10.4 points, nearly erasing the previous month's gain, but remained in expansion territory for the sixth straight month. The prices paid index rose 1.6 points to its highest level since May 2022. Respondents cited rising oil and metal prices as key drivers.
US job openings increased in May, indicating steady labor demand. The number of available positions changed little, suggesting stable demand alongside a recent uptick in wage growth. Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed job openings rose slightly to 7.59 million last month, above the revised April figure. The median economist forecast was 7.3 million. Gains were seen in sectors like construction, and leisure and hospitality. Openings in professional and business services were nearly unchanged in May, a sector that accounted for most of the job growth in April. New positions in financial activities continued to decline, the sector that has been the largest drag on employment growth this year. Tuesday's report reinforced signals from other recent data indicating momentum in the labor market. While price increases during the Iran war have dampened consumer confidence and eroded wage gains, the impact on labor demand has been limited, and consumer spending has remained robust.
US single-family home prices edged down slightly month-over-month in April, though a shortage of homes for sale continued to provide some support. The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that prices fell 0.1% in April after a revised 0.2% gain in March. The monthly decline may reflect softer demand as tensions in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher, contributing to inflation and rising mortgage rates. Data from mortgage lender Freddie Mac shows the average rate on a conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen about 50 basis points since the conflict escalated in late February, averaging 6.49% last week. A sharp price decline appears unlikely. Prices were up 2.0% in the 12 months through April, compared to a 1.8% gain in March. A nationwide housing shortage persists, particularly for entry-level homes for first-time buyers. The National Association of Home Builders estimates the shortfall at about 1.2 million units.
Anthropic has launched the Claude Sonnet 5 model. The company stated this is its most capable Sonnet model to date for agentic tasks, capable of planning, using tools like browsers and terminals, and operating autonomously at a level previously achievable only by larger, more expensive models months ago. Sonnet 5's performance approaches that of Opus 4.8 at a lower price, with significant enhancements over its predecessor Sonnet 4.6 in key agent dimensions like reasoning, tool use, programming, and knowledge work. Safety evaluations show Sonnet 5 has a lower rate of undesirable behavior than Sonnet 4.6, making it safer for agentic scenarios, and its capability for cybersecurity tasks is far below current Opus models. Sonnet 5 is available immediately across all plans: it's the default for Free and Pro tiers, and also available for Max, Team, and Enterprise users. The model is also on the Claude Code and Claude platform. Introductory pricing is set at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, valid until August 31, 2026, after which it will adjust to $3/$15.
US crude oil production climbed to a record high of 13.93 million barrels per day in April, according to monthly data from the US Energy Information Administration released Tuesday. The increase was influenced by higher oil prices due to the Iran war, prompting producers to ramp up extraction. EIA data showed production increased by 216,000 barrels per day in April, with New Mexico's output reaching a record 2.37 million barrels per day. Texas production edged up 36,000 barrels per day to 5.83 million, the highest level since November last year. Texas and New Mexico share the Permian Basin, which accounts for about half of total US crude output. Production in North Dakota, the third-largest producing state, rose to 1.13 million barrels per day, also the highest since last November.
Notable Corporate Developments
Michael Burry, the investor portrayed in "The Big Short," has disclosed new bearish bets targeting the AI and semiconductor sectors. He indicated he has taken a short position in Tesla (TSLA.US) around $416.22 per share, describing it as part of his view on an "AI bubble." He has also established short positions in Nvidia (NVDA.US), Caterpillar, Applied Materials, and a semiconductor ETF. Burry stated these trades are part of a broader hedge against overheated valuations in AI and semiconductors but did not disclose specific sizes, noting only that he entered the Tesla short after a rebound. Market reaction was mixed, with related tech stocks generally rising during the session.
Independent semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis has raised its outlook, suggesting Nvidia's (NVDA.US) data center revenue could significantly exceed market expectations. Nvidia's stock rose about 1.8% on the last trading day of the quarter, following a pullback of over 11% in the past month. The rebound was partly driven by SemiAnalysis's optimistic forecast. The firm anticipates Nvidia's data center compute revenue for the second half of fiscal 2027 will be about 20% above Wall Street consensus estimates, primarily based on easing supply bottlenecks and accelerated adoption of the Vera Rubin platform. The market views this as reflecting continued expansion in AI infrastructure demand. The report noted that previously constraining HBM4 memory supply issues have largely been resolved, and front-end wafer capacity has been secured in advance, supporting shipment growth in the second half. Supply chain information suggests the product transition from Blackwell to Rubin is expected to complete in Q2 2026, driving accelerated demand from Q3 onward. Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform entered mass production in June, with plans to deliver to several cloud providers in the fall, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle. The new HBM4 offers significantly improved bandwidth, seen as strengthening AI computing performance advantages. However, the report also noted that the original design for Rubin Ultra was scaled back, with size and performance below initial plans, leaving some uncertainty about long-term revenue impact. Overall, the continuation of the AI computing cycle remains a core market focus.
Brokerage Ratings Updates
Morgan Stanley raised its price target for UnitedHealth Group (UNH.US) from $453 to $468 and increased its target for Alphabet (GOOGL.US) from $375 to $415.
Deutsche Bank raised its price target for Robinhood Markets (HOOD.US) from $105 to $113.
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