RPT-BUZZ-US stocks weekly: Glimmers of hope

Repeats from Friday with no changes to text. Updates graphic

** S&P 500 .SPX rallies 2nd-straight week, adds 3.6% amid tenuous Mideast truce .N

** Dow .DJI ascends 3% and Nasdaq Composite .IXIC vaults 4.7%. IXIC now up 8 days in a row, last rose 8 straight days in Aug 2024

** Indeed, US futures jump on Iran ceasefire; S&P 500 eyes key technical levels

** With this, all three main indexes reclaim 200-DMAs on Weds

** Dow Transports .DJT hits record highs, bulls watch for Dow Industrials to follow

** Wants vs. Needs: A market clue to how optimistic investors are feeling

** Almost all sectors heartened: Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services most encouraged, while only Energy downbeat

** Consumer Discretionary .SPLRCD leaps 5.8%. Amazon AMZN.O jumps as CEO Andy Jassy reveals cloud unit's annualized AI revenue exceeds $15 bln

** Communication Services .SPLRCL soars 5.8%. Meta META.O shares surge on launch of new AI model, Muse Spark

** Tech .SPLRCT gains 4.8%. Intel INTC.O climbs after announcing it will join Elon Musk's Terafab AI chipmaking project

Broadcom AVGO.O rises on long-term deal to develop Google's GOOGL.O custom AI chips

Semiconductor index .SOX powers up 13.5%, biggest weekly percentage gain since Nov 2022, and now up 8 straight days, longest daily winning streak since 9-day stretch in Sept 2025

Apple AAPL.O falls on Tues after Nikkei Asia reported foldable iPhone faces delays on engineering snags, though Bloomberg reported phone's launch remains on track

In contrast, software names including Intuit INTU.O, Palantir PLTR.O and CrowdStrike CRWD.O battered on Thurs by renewed AI disruption jitters, and they extend slump on Fri while UBS downgrades ServiceNow NOW.N to 'neutral'

** Healthcare .SPXHC edges up 0.4%. Insurers UnitedHealth UNH.N, Humana HUM.N, CVS Health CVS.N and others jump as Medicare hikes 2027 payment rates

** Energy .SPNY loses 4.1%. Energy shares drop as oil prices slide after US-Iran ceasefire O/R

** Meanwhile, stocks vs. cash: An AAII gauge worth watching, and individual investor bears retreat, but still unusually high, thus, the crowd is still bearish — and contrarians are taking note

** SPX performance YTD:

(Lance Tupper and Terence Gabriel are Reuters market analysts. The views expressed are their own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com ; terence.gabriel@tr.com))