New York, June 18, 2026, 20:02 (EDT)
- Nasdaq climbed 1.91%, S&P 500 was up 1.08%, and the Dow finished 0.14% higher. U.S. cash equity markets will be shut Friday for Juneteenth.
- Intel shares gained 10.6% after Trump said Apple plans to team up with the chipmaker for U.S. chip design and manufacturing.
- The rally is still hitting resistance from Fed rate-hike risk. Lower oil prices and firmer tech shares have helped steady sentiment.
Nasdaq leads Wall Street higher as chip stocks rally; S&P 500, Dow up too U.S. stocks climbed Thursday, with chip shares bouncing hard as traders snapped up hit tech stocks before the Juneteenth break. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 496.28 points, or 1.91%, ending at 26,517.93. The S&P 500 rose 80.48 points, or 1.08%, to finish at 7,500.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 72.15 points, or 0.14%, closing at 51,564.70.
Markets are closed Friday for Juneteenth, according to the NYSE holiday calendar, so Thursday wrapped up the week for portfolio managers. New York Stock Exchange That mattered because the move landed just a day after Wall Street sold off on bets the Fed might raise rates next instead of cutting.
S&P 500 added 0.93% for the holiday-shortened week, the Nasdaq climbed 2.43%, and the Dow was up 0.71%. The Russell 2000 jumped 2.1% on Thursday, finishing at a new record close for the small-cap index seen as a read on U.S. risk appetite.
Semiconductors led the market. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rallied 6.4%. Intel soared 10.6% to a new high after President Donald Trump said Apple would team up with Intel to design and make chips in the U.S. Trump didn’t clarify which chips Intel would produce, according to Reuters, but Intel is working to revive its foundry unit, which trails Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Stocks got a boost as oil prices pulled back after the United States and Iran reached an interim deal, extending a ceasefire and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Traders care about oil because higher prices stoke inflation, which is the reason the Fed keeps rates high or eyes more hikes.
Still, the session didn’t go full risk-on. Accenture dropped around 18% after it cut the high end of its annual revenue outlook, pulling down other consulting and IT services names like Cognizant, Gartner and IBM. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet told analysts on the post-earnings call that “the indirect impact really started in the last few weeks.” Phil Fersht, chief analyst at HFS Research, said the figures point to demand focusing on AI projects, while wider consulting budgets remain tight. Reuters
Fed risk didn’t move markets much through the day. The central bank kept its federal funds rate target at 3.50%-3.75% on Wednesday. New projections from the Fed, reported by Reuters, showed nine policymakers expected a rate hike before year-end. One basis point is equal to 0.01 percentage point. Traders were betting on about a 50% chance of a 25-basis-point hike in September, according to CME FedWatch data reported by Reuters.
Thursday’s bounce got called a partial reset by analysts, not a full turn away from inflation fears. “Markets got spooked by Warsh yesterday essentially promising to contain inflation,” Tony Welch, chief investment officer at SignatureFD, told Reuters. He pointed to easing oil prices and recent data and earnings as keeping the market on firmer ground. Eric Johnston, Cantor’s chief equity and macro strategist, told Reuters: “The conclusion today is that the Fed has more credibility around inflation.” Reuters
Markets saw heavy trading on Thursday, boosted by “triple witching”—when stock options, stock-index options and futures contracts all expired at once. That tends to push up volume and cause bigger moves. U.S. exchanges handled 33.59 billion shares, topping the 20-session average of 21.83 billion. Reuters
Thursday’s rally looks shaky. Two things keep it going: steady energy markets and a Fed investors hope will not get more aggressive. Trouble with the Iran deal could send oil back up and push inflation higher. Strong jobs and price data could fire up rate-hike bets again. Weekly jobless claims dropped to 226,000 last week and layoffs are still low—another labor sign that gives the Fed less reason to back off.
Traders will be watching housing, durable-goods and inflation data after the long weekend. The Census Bureau has May new-home sales set for June 24, and durable-goods orders drop June 25. The Bureau of Economic Analysis plans to release the next personal consumption expenditures price index, which the Fed tracks for inflation, also on June 25.
