Wall Street investors entered June 9 weighing a familiar dilemma: whether the S&P 500’s recovery would persist or another market pullback was imminent.
Traders were heavily bullish going into the Tuesday session. The contract betting on whether the S&P 500 would open higher showed more than 90% chance of an “up” open, signaling strong optimism after Monday’s bounce.
The bullish sentiment follows a volatile week for US equities. On Monday, the S&P 500 closed up 0.30% at 7,405.73, shaking off a sharp drop on Friday that came after a surprisingly strong US jobs report.
The labor market added about 172,000 jobs in May, well above forecasts, and unemployment stayed at 4.3%. That solid jobs number shows the economy is holding up, but it also worries people that the Fed might keep rates high for longer, or even hike again later this year.
Despite those concerns, futures were pointing up before Tuesday’s open. E‑mini S&P futures rose about 0.2% to 0.5%, while Nasdaq futures did even better, lifted by renewed buying in semiconductor and AI-related stocks.
Interestingly, the primary driver behind the positive sentiment appears to be the rebound in chip stocks.
Big chip stocks like Nvidia, Broadcom, and Micron Technology recovered after getting hit hard late last week, with Micron in particular rising almost 10%. Investors seem more and more ready to buy the dip in AI-related names, even as worries about high valuations keep building.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Another factor supporting equities is easing Middle East tensions. Markets got a boost from reports of a temporary de‑escalation between Iran and Israel, and oil prices backed off their recent highs, easing fears that a long conflict would push inflation higher via energy costs.
Still, the big focus is the interest rate outlook after last week’s strong jobs report. Higher Treasury yields remain a problem for tech stocks and other growth sectors that have driven the market’s run.
That said, some analysts think last week’s drop was just a healthy reset and not the start of a bigger plunge. Morgan Stanley strategists said the pullback helped tone down too much optimism and might actually set the stage for more gains later in the year.
Related: AI Stocks Account for Nearly All of the S&P 500’s Recent Gains
