Wall Street climbs, oil slides as investors bet on AI growth over Middle East tensions

Wall Street climbs, oil slides as investors bet on AI growth over Middle East tensions

By Pete Schroeder

Fri July 10, 2026  

For a second day, Wall Street is ignoring Middle East tensions and focusing again on AI and that drove tech mildly upward all day and the Dow even more into a low 3-digit gain. Oil prices came down a bit as investors eye the continuing attacks but may still be holding out optimism for the negotiations. Per the CBOE, a mere 14.9 billion shares traded hands, even more way below the 23.0 billion average than before, indicating that investors are on the fence waiting to see what happens next. 

Stocks climb, oil slides as tech hopes outlast Middle East worries

Stocks climb, oil slides as tech hopes outlast Middle East worries

By Pete Schroeder

Thu July 9, 2026  

Yesterday’s negative war news with new strikes on Iran drove the whole tech sector down. Today, even despite a second day of strikes and Iran retaliation, the market decided to disregard the war and return to the love affair with AI, bolstering both the S&P and Nasdaq into a daylong and quite fruitful rally. Nvidia was riding high on the second day after being allowed to sell its chips to Chinese companies. Yesterday, this news sent the chip index up 2.4%, today an additional 3%.  

S&P 500 ends down after Trump says Iran deal is 'over'

S&P 500 ends down after Trump says Iran deal is 'over'

By Noel Randewich

Wed July 8, 2026 

The bad war news today (or should I say peace news) brought all the indexes down except the Nasdaq which, though sunk by almost 300 by noon, had an afternoon comeback that got it modestly into the black. The same thing happened to the S&P though the comeback there still kept it modestly in the red. The Dow was down almost 900 by noon but with a much more modest recovery that still left it well into the red. What pushed tech back up was an Apple announcement that it was buying $30B of chips from Broadcom to put in the 2.5B Apple devices people use globally.  

Nasdaq sinks as AI worries hit chipmakers

Nasdaq sinks as AI worries hit chipmakers

By Noel Randewich and Shashwat Chauhan

Tue July 7, 2026  

AI nerves were back today big time with Micron and other chipmakers falling due to continuing doubts about AI’s sustainability. Even Samsung with today’s blowout earnings report was unfortunately not enough of a blowout to satisfy investors whose expectations were through the roof.  As today’s expert put it, “Expectations have gotten to be almost impossible to beat …”  

S&P 500, Nasdaq close sharply higher as Broadcom rallies

S&P 500, Nasdaq close sharply higher as Broadcom rallies

By Noel Randewich and Ragini Mathur

Mon July 6, 2026  

AI exuberance is back after last week’s setbacks and it sent all three indexes straight up with 3-digit gains on both the Dow and Nasdaq and the S&P also up an impressive 54 points. This was all triggered by strong expectations of a blossoming Q2 earnings season which starts shortly combined with expectations that this boom will continue through the rest of the year. The chip index was up 2.2% after last week’s slump.  

Nasdaq ends lower with tech; investors assess softer jobs data

Nasdaq ends lower with tech; investors assess softer jobs data

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Niket Nishant

Thu July 2, 2026  

It was a second day of sharp declines in tech, today being written off as profit-taking after such a long run of gains. Only about half the number of expected new jobs materialized which was greeted as good news on inflation and a possible stay of execution on the Fed raising rates. Odds of a rate hike decreased from 64 to 55%.  

Wall Street ends choppy session lower as tech shares drop

Wall Street ends choppy session lower as tech shares drop

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Niket Nishant

Wed July 1, 2026  

Investors chose to return to caution again today with all three indexes starting the session in the red, the Nasdaq deeply so, but then rising into the black until about noon when they began to decline and all closing modestly in the red. The concerns over the war and AI expenses reared their ugly head again and brought the Nasdaq way down until Meta saved the day momentarily with an 8.8% gain.