A powerful rebound in semiconductor stocks lifted Wall Street on Monday, driving the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 sharply higher, as investors dumped defensive corners of the market in a broad risk-on rotation.
The session's driving force was memory. A DRAM-sector surge rippled across chipmakers ahead of Samsung's quarterly sales updates and SK Hynix's planned U.S. listing this Friday, with the market betting the artificial-intelligence trade that has powered the bull run still has room to run.
The enthusiasm was concentrated. As chips and small caps rallied, money drained out of consumer staples, health care and utilities, leaving breadth uneven and the Dow narrowly in the red by midday despite its record print.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to around 7,537, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% to about 52,864 after tagging a record above 53,000.
The Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.5% to roughly 29,753 as chips did the heavy lifting. Within Magnificent Seven stocks, Tesla Inc. (TSLA) surged 5.9%, Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) gained 3.8% and NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) added 0.9%, while Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) bucked the trend, falling 1.3%.
The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.9%, extending its status as 2026's strongest major index.
Monday's Performance In Major U.S. Indices
According to market data:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) gained 0.7%.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) was up 0.12%.
- The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) climbed 1.5%.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) rose 0.9%.
Memory Chips Set The Tape As Defensives Get Dumped
The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) led all sectors, up 2.5%, while industrials and consumer discretionary posted more modest gains. The other side of the ledger was a defensive purge: the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) tumbled 1.9%, the worst-performing group, followed by the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV), down 1.5%, with utilities, materials and real estate all lower.
At the industry level, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) jumped 3.6% to pace the tape, joined by the Invesco Solar ETF (TAN), up 3.4%. On the losing side, the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) fell 2.1%.
The chip strength ran deep. Micron Technology Inc. (MU) rose 3.4% and Western Digital Corp. (WDC) climbed 7.6% on the memory-pricing tailwind, while Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) jumped 9.3% and QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) added 6.9%.
AI-infrastructure names Arista Networks Inc. (ANET) and Vertiv Holdings Co (VRT) rose 8.3% and 7.7%, respectively.
The day's biggest Russell 1000 gainer was IREN Ltd (IREN), up almost 15%, as the former Bitcoin miner's pivot to AI data centers — anchored by its Nvidia GPU cloud partnership — drew fresh buyers amid the broader compute rally.
Peer TeraWulf Inc. (WULF) rose 12.62% as its high-performance-compute leasing ramp rode the same AI-infrastructure theme, with no fresh company-specific catalyst on the tape.
Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (CRDO) climbed 13.2% after BofA Securities lifted its price target to $340 from $252 and reiterated a Buy rating, citing accelerating AI data-center connectivity demand.
Fellow connectivity play Astera Labs Inc. (ALAB) rose 9.9%, moving in lockstep with Credo on the same connectivity thesis and semiconductor rebound.
Bloom Energy Corp. (BE) also rallied more than 9% on data-center power demand.
Solstice Advanced Materials Inc. (SOLS) plunged 14.2%, the worst in the Russell 1000, after announcing a definitive agreement to acquire Element Solutions Inc. (ESI) in a cash-and-stock deal valued at roughly $14.5 billion including net debt, with the sizable share-based component stoking dilution fears.
UL Solutions Inc. (ULS) fell 7.7% with no confirmed fresh catalyst in the tape, a move that looks like profit-taking on a stock trading near 56 times earnings.
Deal chatter dragged on O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY), which slid 6.7% to a 52-week low after reports surfaced that it is eyeing the NAPA auto-parts unit of Genuine Parts Co. (GPC). Peer AutoZone Inc. (AZO) fell 5.5%.
