S&P 500, Nasdaq close at record highs, cap best quarter in over a year

S&P 500, Nasdaq close at record highs, cap best quarter in over a year

By Sabrina Valle

Mon June 30, 2025 5:02 PM

A continuing raft of soft data triggering hopes for rate cuts along with optimism over trade deals shot the indexes up again with the S&P today finally reaching a new record high after months of being down. The good news is that the 2^nd quarter has closed with gains all around, the S&P up 10.57%, the Nasdaq 17.75, the Dow 4.98%. The bad news is that Q1 was so bad that it is still the worst first-half in 3 years. There’s also the problem of more and more Republicans pushing back on Trump’s bills and policies and the tariffs continuing to create an awful lot of tension.

S&P 500, Nasdaq hit record closing highs amid trade negotiations, rate cut bets

S&P 500, Nasdaq hit record closing highs amid trade negotiations, rate cut bets

By Stephen Culp

Fri June 27, 2025 4:30 PM  

Today’s PCE data showing weakening consumer spending for a second day strengthened the case for the Fed to cut rates sooner than later and that among other weakening data sent stocks into very substantial 3-digit gains for a second day. The Dow rose over 600 points in the morning session but then, along with all the indexes, took a major dive at about 1 pm before beginning a recovery around 3 pm to close with still substantial gains. It was at about 1 pm when Trump announced the termination of trade negotiations with Canada.  

Wall Street ends higher on rate cuts, S&P 500, Nasdaq miss record highs

Wall Street ends higher on rate cuts, S&P 500, Nasdaq miss record highs

By Stephen Culp

Thu June 26, 2025 6:36 PM  

All the indexes trended straight up today with some more impressive 3-digit gains given the combo of the tenuous Israel-Iran truce continuing to hold and a variety of downgraded economic factors that gave rise to hopes of rate cuts sooner than later. Among such factors was a revised GDP showing more contraction than before, weaker consumer spending and jobless claims reaching multi-year highs suggesting cracks in the labor market. Stimulus also came by way of the Fed proposing to relax its leverage rules, which would make it easier for the banks to make riskier loans.  

Wall Street ends mixed amid cooling Middle East tensions; Powell in focus

Wall Street ends mixed amid cooling Middle East tensions; Powell in focus

By Stephen Culp

Wed June 25, 2025 4:29 PM

The Reuters analyst below referred to the day’s action as a “pause” but the charts tell a story of a day-long sell-off. There’s no mystery to this what with the uncertainty and murkiness surrounding the Israel-Iran situation with Trump claiming obliteration while the intelligence agencies saying at least preliminarily that the damage was modest and Tehran’s nuclear program is far from destroyed. The truce, though tenuous, continues to hold but there remains a lack of clarity about Iran. The S&P started in the black but ended flat while the Nasdaq had a much better day in the black all day though it fell from a morning high of +140 to close at less than half that.  

Wall St ends sharply higher, S&P 500 nears record high as Middle East tensions cool

Wall St ends sharply higher, S&P 500 nears record high as Middle East tensions cool

By Stephen Culp

Tue June 24, 2025 4:27 PM

Following on the heels of the U.S. attack on Iran which sparked a big rally yesterday, and despite the fact that the declared truce has already been violated by Israel, the fact that there is any cooling of the tensions at all caused another major rally today with both tech and industrials advancing with big 3-digit gains. Powell again restated his oft-quoted view that rate cuts can wait until we have a much clearer picture of the tariffs with the oddsmakers now putting July at 20% and September at 70%.  

Wall St ends higher as rate-cut hopes offset Iran war fears

Wall St ends higher as rate-cut hopes offset Iran war fears

By Stephen Culp

Mon June 23, 2025 4:39 PM

After posting respectable gains in the morning, all three indexes took a big dump at the noon hour going well into the red before almost immediately bouncing back to close with very nice 3-digit gains after all. There was a huge sigh of relief over Iran when uncertainty over an attack turned to certainty when the attack took place this weekend. There was more relief that Iran’s retaliation was not nearly as severe as feared and even more so that they did not move to close the Gulf of Hormuz, which would have seriously restricted oil supply.

S&P 500, Nasdaq end down; investors brace for more Middle East news

S&P 500, Nasdaq end down; investors brace for more Middle East news

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Fri June 20, 2025 4:00 PM

All three opened with gains but then quickly went into decline with tech hitting red as early as 10:30 and staying there while the Dow dipped into losses around 1:30 but then recovered to a very modest gain by close. The Reuters summary begins with the sentence, “Trading was choppy for much of the session.” No kidding, what with the U.S. threatening to attack Iran and now Iran refusing further negotiations until Israel stops its attacks.