Key Points
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Semiconductor stocks led Tuesday’s rally, with SOXX gaining 3.6% on AI infrastructure optimism.
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Honeywell’s 8.1% drop after its aerospace spinoff masked underlying Dow strength.
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SpaceX rose 4.1% on reports of discussions with a government-backed children’s investment program.
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The Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) index rose 1.1% by noon ET Tuesday as semiconductor stocks surged, lifting the broader market on the final trading day of June. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) gained 0.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) added a modest 0.2%.
Chip stocks dominated the session, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SOXX) climbing 3.6%. The Silicon Valley surge was broad rather than concentrated in a single name. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) led the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite higher, adding $110 billion in market capitalization on a fairly modest 2.6% gain.
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The Dow’s sluggish performance tells a misleading story, though. Honeywell International (NASDAQ: HON) dropped 8.1% after completing its aerospace spinoff on Monday. This mechanical adjustment subtracted 121 points from the index. That’s not a vote of no confidence; it’s just math reflecting a significant business unit becoming a separate stock.
Behind the rally: AI hype, SpaceX news, and Supreme Court drama
The semiconductor sector’s strength reflected continued optimism around artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure spending. Bullish analyst notes lifted chip equipment giant Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) by 5% and industry veteran Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) by 7%, respectively. These upgrades boosted the chip sector as a whole, with significant upside for the major market indexes, too.
Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) jumped 4.1% on reports that the company is in talks to donate equity to Trump Accounts, a government-backed children’s investment program set to launch next week. More than 6 million kids have already signed up for this children’s investment program, with asset contributions from prominent figures including Michael Dell.
The Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index ETF (NASDAQ: ONEQ) reflects the Nasdaq Composite index. It tracks everything on the Nasdaq exchange, SpaceX included. The popular Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) tracks the Nasdaq-100 index instead. That’s a more exclusive club with about 100 components instead of thousands, and it hasn’t added Elon Musk’s rocket company yet.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Tuesday’s 4% SpaceX gain narrowed the gap between ONEQ and QQQ, though QQQ’s heavy mega-cap weighting still gave it a slight edge — it gained 1.5% versus ONEQ’s 1.1%.
Over in the Strait of Hormuz, 485 ships are stuck waiting to pass through, including 220 oil tankers. Actual shipping traffic remains minimal. The United States Oil Fund (NYSEMKT: USO) dropped 1% anyway, suggesting traders are growing numb to the ongoing standoff. U.S. and Iranian negotiators continue talking in Qatar, exchanging messages through lower-level government representatives.
And the Supreme Court is ending its session with a bunch of important rulings. The big ones today involved upholding birthright citizenship and looser limits on the parties’ political spending. Wall Street appreciated the rulings, with notable index gains seen around each announcement.
What comes next
And just like that, the first half of 2026 is in the books. Tech stocks are ending June on a high note, though the Nasdaq’s path here involved plenty of drama.
Typical quarter-end dynamics likely contributed to Tuesday’s moves, as institutional investors rebalanced portfolios and engaged in window dressing ahead of their mid-year reports. It’s the financial equivalent of cleaning your apartment right before guests arrive. The buying is real, but the motivation is partly cosmetic.
For long-term investors, Tuesday’s chip-driven rally reinforces the market’s continued focus on AI-related infrastructure spending. Whether current valuations prove justified in the long run depends on how effectively that spending translates into corporate earnings growth.
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Anders Bylund has positions in Intel. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Applied Materials, Honeywell Technologies, Intel, and iShares Semiconductor ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
