Micron Leads Memory-Stock Rally, Nasdaq 100 Tops 29,000: Stock Market Today

A memory-led rally swept across Wall Street on Tuesday, with Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU ) jumping more than 12% — the top performer among mega-cap stocks — as investors kept their focus on corporate earnings and looked past a 10th straight day of U.S.-Iran hostilities.

Bank of America semiconductor analyst Vivek Arya reiterated a Buy rating on Micron with a $1,550 price target and struck an upbeat tone on the broader memory industry.

The rise of open-source, lower-cost Chinese AI models, Arya argued, will ultimately fuel even greater memory demand rather than curb it.

Across U.S. equity markets by midday Tuesday, gains were broad-based, though momentum was concentrated in technology after strong export data from Taiwan and South Korea reinforced the recovery in semiconductor demand.

The S&P 500 rose 0.9% to 7,507.65, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 419 points, or 0.8%, to 52,258.

The Nasdaq 100 outpaced with a 1.5% gain to 29,022.

The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 1.1% to 2,976.40.

Within Magnificent Seven stocks, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA ) climbed 3.0% ahead of its results Wednesday, and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA ) added 1.4%.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) slipped 1.0% ahead of its own report Wednesday, while Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT ) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN ) each eased about 1.0%.

In metals, gold – tracked by the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD ) – rose 1.7% to about $4,077 an ounce and silver jumped 4.6% to $58.98.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was up 2% to $66,000, reflecting improving risk sentiment in digital assets.

Tuesday’s Performance In Major US Indices Index Last % Change S&P 500 7,507.65 +0.9% Dow Jones 52,258 +0.8% Nasdaq 100 29,022 +1.5% Russell 2000 2,976.40 +1.1% Updated by 12:30 PM ET According to the Pro platform: The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: VOO ) gained 0.9%.

The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE: DIA ) rose 0.8%.

The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ ) climbed 1.5%.

The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE: IWM ) rallied 1.1%.

Chip Rout Reverses As Memory Names Roar Back The rebound was overwhelmingly a technology story.

The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLK ) led S&P 500 sectors, up 2.8%, powered by a violent snap-back in memory and equipment stocks captured by the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SMH ).

Other than Micron Technology Inc., peers Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK ) and Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC ) were also up over 12% on the same strengthening pricing backdrop for NAND and DRAM.

SK Hynix Inc. (NASDAQ: SKHY ) rallied 10.5%.

The broader RoundHill Memory ETF (NYSE: DRAM ) was up 11.3%, on pace for its best day in over a month.

On the other side, software lagged as money rotated into hardware, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (BATS: IGV ) weighed down by broad declines across cloud and SaaS names.

Among individual movers, Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE: BE ) was the standout in the Russell 1000, surging 14.6% after Brookfield expanded its framework to finance Bloom-related AI and data-center power projects to $25 billion, up from a previously announced $5 billion.

Optical and networking names rode the AI-infrastructure wave alongside it: Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAOI ) climbed 13.2%, with peers Coherent Corp. (NYSE: COHR ) and Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN ) up 10.3% and 8.3%, respectively.

The day’s laggards were dominated by earnings disappointments in life sciences and financial data.

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR ) tumbled 13.5%, even after topping estimates with Q2 EPS of $1.94 versus $1.84 expected, as the company cut its full-year core revenue growth outlook to 3%-4% from 3%-6% and guided Q3 core growth to just 2%-3% on a more cautious bioprocessing forecast.

That read-through hammered bioprocessing supplier Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ: RGEN ), which slid 7.9%.

MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI ) dropped 9.0% despite reporting Q2 EPS of $4.94 against the $4.86 consensus, as the beat failed to offset investor concerns on forward growth.

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX ) fell 6.9% after a modest EPS beat of $2.25 versus $2.20 was overshadowed by weak guidance, with the credit bureau cutting its full-year revenue outlook to $6.71 billion-$6.78 billion.

Elsewhere in earnings, General Motors Company (NYSE: GM ) climbed 4.9% after beating with Q2 EPS of $3.57 versus $3.19.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC ) fell 2.5%, despite topping estimates at $7.68 versus $6.82.

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW ) was unchanged after beating estimates.

Tuesday’s Russell 1000 Top Gainers Name % change Bloom Energy Corporation +14.55% Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. +13.22% Teradyne, Inc. +12.21% Western Digital Corporation +12.15% Sandisk Corporation +12.09% Tuesday’s Russell 1000 Top Losers Name % change Danaher Corporation -13.46% MSCI Inc. -9.02% Repligen Corporation -7.92% Figma, Inc. (NYSE: FIG ) -7.91% Equifax Inc. -6.93% Photo: Shutterstock