Wall Street wrapped up a roaring June and first half of the year as investors cheered the prospects of easier monetary policy from the Federal Reserve and awaited clarity on U.S.-China trade relations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 7.2% this month, notching its best June performance since 1938, when it surged 24.3%. Caterpillar, Apple and Goldman Sachs drove the Dow’s gains in June, rallying more than 12% each.
The S&P 500 posted its best first half of a year since 1997, soaring 17.3% and reaching an all-time high. All 11 of the S&P 500 sectors rose in the first half of the year, with tech rising more than 26% to lead the gains. Energy was the market’s laggard in the first half, rising just 7.1%.
One subset of the technology space that shined this month was semiconductor stocks. The VanEck Vector Semiconductor ETF (SMH) — one of the most widely followed ETFs for chip stocks — skyrocketed more than 12% in June, notching its biggest one-month gain since September 2010.
Semiconductor stocks were coming off a 15.5% plunge in May, however, as trade tensions between China and the U.S. ratcheted up. Investors turn their eyes to the G-20 summit Osaka, Japan as Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump are scheduled to meet and discuss trade.
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