Dow Tops 52,000 as Alphabet Jumps, Tech Stocks Rally
The Dow closed above 52,000, up about 306 points, as Alphabet rose nearly 5% and technology stocks led broad gains during a holiday-shortened trading week.
On Monday the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 52,000, gaining about 306 points. The S&P 500 rose 1.17% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.07% as technology shares drove market strength during a holiday-shortened week.
Investor sentiment improved after reports that the United States and Iran agreed to pause hostilities and allow commercial vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz, reducing some near-term geopolitical risk.
Alphabet jumped nearly 5% in its first day as a Dow member and was among the largest contributors to the index’s gain. Comcast advanced roughly 4% after announcing plans to separate its media and technology businesses into two publicly traded companies through a tax-free spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky, a transaction the company expects to complete in about a year.
Semiconductor stocks staged a recovery. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF rose more than 3% and individual chip makers Astera Labs, KLA and Applied Materials each climbed over 11%, reflecting renewed buying in artificial intelligence-related names. SpaceX also finished higher after an announcement that the company will join the Nasdaq-100 Index on July 7.
Oil prices moved higher as traders weighed whether the pause in regional hostilities would hold. Brent crude rose about 1.6% to $73.15 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate climbed about 2.2% to $70.75.
Joe Tigay, a portfolio manager at Equity Armor Investments, warned: “Trading volumes are light ahead of the Independence Day holiday and that can magnify moves. With the end of the quarter approaching, some advisors are locking in gains to make quarterly reports look attractive to clients.”
Most companies in the S&P 500 are expected to begin reporting second-quarter earnings after mid-July. RBC Capital Markets raised its 12-month target for the S&P 500 to 8,150 from 7,900, citing continued earnings strength and a supportive macroeconomic backdrop.
Trading volumes remained light with U.S. markets set to close Friday for Independence Day. The combination of easing regional tensions and several corporate developments pushed major U.S. indexes higher to start the week.
Articles by this author
