Nasdaq Surges 21% in Q2, Marking Best Quarterly Gain in 6 Years

Despite the surge in oil prices due to the U.S.-Iran conflict, major New York stock indices recorded their highest growth rates since the pandemic during the second quarter (April–June), fueled by optimism surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) related sectors.

On June 30, the final trading day of the second quarter, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 52,319.20, up 136.46 points (0.26%) from the previous session.

The S&P 500 index rose 58.93 points (0.79%) to 7,499.36, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index climbed 393.58 points (1.52%) to 26,213.72.

According to data from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices rose 15% and 21%, respectively, during the second quarter.

Both indices recorded their highest quarterly gains in six years, since the second quarter of 2020.

The Dow Jones index rose 9% this year, marking its best first-half performance in five years, since the first half of 2021.

The New York stock market saw a sharp decline in March due to the fallout from the U.S.-Iran conflict that began in late February, which caused oil prices to spike and raised concerns over private credit defaults. However, the market rebounded sharply from April, driven by expanded investment in AI infrastructure and strong improvements in corporate earnings, particularly among tech companies.

In particular, the success of Anthropic's AI coding tool, Claude Code, in demonstrating the potential for stable revenue generation among corporate clients revived optimism regarding continued large-scale AI investment and growth prospects.

On this day, major big tech companies led the market rally, with Nvidia rising 2.54% and Apple gaining 2.70%.

SanDisk surged 10.84%, recovering from recent losses, while semiconductor companies such as Intel (5.95%) and AMD (7.62%) also saw significant gains.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which consists of 30 major U.S.-listed semiconductor stocks, rose 3.92%.

The WSJ reported that the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 88% in the second quarter alone, marking its largest quarterly gain on record.

Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, told Reuters, "Despite all the geopolitical uncertainty, the U.S. economy is moving along, and corporate earnings are solid."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.