Despite a jump in oil prices and economic uncertainty from the U.S.-Iran war, strength in artificial intelligence (AI) stocks continued, pushing major New York stock indexes to their highest quarterly gains since the pandemic in the second quarter (April–June).
On the 30th, the last trading day of the second quarter (local time) in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 136.46 points, or 0.26%, higher at 52,319.20 than the previous session.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index closed at 7,499.36, up 58.93 points, or 0.79%, from the previous session, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended at 26,213.72, up 393.58 points, or 1.52%.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the gains left the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up 15% and 21%, respectively, in the second quarter. Both indexes posted their biggest quarterly gains since the second quarter of 2020. The Dow is up 9% so far this year, marking its strongest first-half performance since the first half of 2021.
Nvidia (2.54%) and Apple (2.70%) were among the major big tech names leading the advance with strong gains.
SanDisk surged 10.84%, recouping recent losses, and semiconductor names including Intel (5.95%) and AMD (7.62%) also rose sharply.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which comprises 30 major semiconductor stocks listed in the United States, rose 3.92% on the day. According to the WSJ, the index soared 88% in the second quarter alone, marking its biggest quarterly gain on record.
Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wells Fargo Advisors, told Reuters, "Despite all the geopolitical jitters, the U.S. economy continues on a solid trajectory and corporations' earnings are strong."