US Stock Market

It probably feels a bit surreal right now: headlines say Americans are in their “grimmest mood on record,” inflation worries are back, there’s a war disrupting oil flows — and yet your screen shows the Nasdaq ripping higher again.

Main story: chips and AI drag the market higher

Today was another tech‑led surge.

• The Nasdaq jumped about 1.6%, the S&P 500 rose roughly 0.8%, while the Dow actually slipped a touch.
• Under the hood, the equal‑weight index (which treats every stock the same size) was only up about 0.3%. That tells you a small group of large, fast‑moving names is doing most of the lifting.

That group is semiconductors and AI‑linked tech:

• The tech sector gained nearly 2.8% and is up more than 20% over the past month.
• Chip names were wild: Intel soared about 23%, AMD roughly 14%, Nvidia over 4%, with Micron and others tagging along.
• A semiconductor ETF has run almost 50% since late March, and commentators are now openly warning that valuations look stretched and the risk of a pullback is rising.

Style-wise, the market shouted “risk‑on”: growth stocks beat value by more than 1% today, and high‑beta names — the jumpier, more volatile ones — outpaced defensive “low‑volatility” stocks by more than 2%. But only a bit more than half of stocks rose, so the party is not broad-based.

Macro backdrop: gloomy consumers, sticky inflation, calm-ish markets