Chip and AI Stocks Drive NASDAQ Higher at Monday Open
Tech and semiconductor shares surged at Monday's open, lifting the NASDAQ more than 1% as geopolitical hopes buoyed sentiment.
US equity markets opened the week on a constructive note, with technology stocks leading a broad-based advance. The NASDAQ climbed roughly 1.12%, the S&P 500 gained about 0.72%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added approximately 0.31% — a divergence in performance that signals the rally's center of gravity remains firmly in high-growth technology and semiconductor names rather than the broader industrial economy.
The driving force behind Monday's move was a sharp rise in chip and AI-related equities. Nebius Group, Credo Technology, Lumentum Holdings, and Coherent Corp. all posted gains exceeding 6%, while household semiconductor names including AMD, Intel, Micron Technology, and SanDisk each climbed more than 5%. The breadth of gains across the chip supply chain — from memory makers to photonics specialists to foundries like TSMC — suggests this was sector-wide rotation rather than a single-stock catalyst.
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Fundamentally, market participants pointed to hopes for a ceasefire in the Strait of Hormuz as a key backdrop. That waterway is a critical chokepoint for global oil shipments, and any reduction in tension there carries immediate implications for energy costs and supply-chain stability — factors that weigh heavily on manufacturing-intensive technology companies.
From a technical standpoint, the NASDAQ is confronting meaningful resistance. Its 100-hour and 200-hour moving averages sit clustered just above current trading levels, near 25,974 and 25,931 respectively, while the index has so far peaked around 25,810. For bulls to consolidate control of the tape, a decisive close above both of those levels would be required. The S&P 500 faces a similar test, trading just beneath its 100-hour moving average; a sustained push above that threshold would open a path toward the 7,577 area, according to technical analysis cited in early-session commentary.
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