Wall St rises as tech shares gain, Middle East tensions ease

By Joel Jose and Twesha Dikshit

Wall Street's major indexes advanced on Tuesday, as technology stocks rose for a second day after last week's rout, and easing hostilities in the Middle East aided sentiment.

Shares of chipmakers Intel, Broadcom and Micron Technology added between 1.5% and 3.2%.

Applied Digital jumped almost 11% after signing a $5.2 billion AI data center lease with a U.S.-based hyperscaler.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index gained 2.3%, while the S&P 500 tech index rose 0.7%.

Technology and AI stocks came under pressure last week, after Broadcom's disappointing forecast fueled concerns about high valuations in the sector, particularly in chipmakers, which have rallied strongly this year.

"The reason why I think the market's holding on pretty well is that analysts are still not finished raising their guidance," said Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management.

Despite concerns about interest rate hikes, inflation and uncertainty in the Middle East, strong earnings expectations, particularly for tech stocks, were driving markets higher, Mahoney added.

Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors moved higher, with consumer discretionary gaining the most, up 1.6%.

Alphabet and Meta rose about 2% each, aiding the communication services index that moved 1.4% higher.

Iran and Israel said on Monday they had halted attacks on each other after an appeal from U.S. President Donald Trump, settling back into a tenuous ceasefire announced on April 8.

Oil prices fell more than 2%, erasing most of the previous session's gains, though caution lingered as diplomatic efforts have yet to yield a lasting peace agreement and the Strait of Hormuz remains shut. [O/R]

At 09:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 383.86 points, or 0.76%, to 51,169.87, the S&P 500 gained 54.33 points, or 0.73%, to 7,460.06 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 196.75 points, or 0.76%, to 26,126.41.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index climbed 1.8%.

Optimism surrounding AI and strong growth expectations have underpinned Wall Street's record run in recent weeks, with investors now turning to highly anticipated IPOs, including SpaceX and ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

SpaceX's $1.75 trillion market debut on Friday could, however, also be a hurdle for U.S. stocks as investors worry about possible overexuberance among high-growth technology stocks. Elon Musk's SpaceX is aiming to raise $75 billion, the most ever for an IPO.

Consumer prices data for May, due on Wednesday, will be closely watched for fresh clues on how the rise in energy prices due to the Iran war is impacting inflation.

A stronger-than-expected jobs report on Friday added to concerns that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year. Traders are pricing in a 43% chance of a 25 basis point rate hike in December, as per CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Among other movers, cancer drug developer Nuvalent surged almost 40% after GSK agreed to buy the company for $10.6 billion, in its largest deal in years, valuing Nuvalent at about $124 per share, a 40% premium to the stock's last closing price.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.16-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 2.99-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 16 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 94 new highs and 48 new lows.

(Reporting by Joel Jose, Sruthi Shankar and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 10:06 AM.