S&P 500 and Nasdaq close at records on Tuesday, July 21, as chip stocks power Wall Street

Wall Street's main indexes rose on Tuesday, July 21, led by a rebound in semiconductor shares, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both closing at record highs. The Nasdaq Composite gained about 1.3% to around 25,837, the S&P 500 added roughly 0.9%, and the Dow Jones rose about 0.8%.

The rally was driven by chip stocks: Micron climbed about 10%, Intel about 7%, and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) around 4%. Investors leaned on stronger-than-expected corporate earnings and looked past the US-Iran military tensions ahead of Big Tech results later this week (Alphabet and Tesla report Wednesday after the close).

Strength in US equities sets the tone for global risk appetite, even as the war risk premium continues to weigh on oil and gold.