S&P500 at 14-week high

On Tuesday, demand dominated the US stock markets for almost the entire day. It is difficult to point out a specific reason for investor optimism. Chuck Carlson, head of Horizon Investment Services, pointed to "a little more peace related to the fact that the economy is not heading into recession". A positive sign was the JOLTS report, which showed a higher than expected number of job offers in April. However, the report on industrial orders in the same month was disappointing, although it was largely influenced by the turmoil related to mutual tariffs. For a large part of the session, US bond yields fell, but towards the end of it began to rise again. The head of the Fed in Atlanta, Raphael Bostic, said that the current uncertainty speaks in favor of patience regarding the change in monetary policy.

The Trump administration confirmed reports on Tuesday that it had sent a letter to trading partners asking them to present their best offer on trade terms by Wednesday. Investors are also waiting for the talks between the US and Chinese presidents, which have been rumored for some time. Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities believes that the market is anticipating its positive results, which is why semiconductor companies, especially Nvidia (2.8%), were gaining. The industry index PHLX Semiconductor rose by 2.7%, the strongest in a week.

At closing, prices of over 70% of S&P500 companies were rising. Demand was dominant in 8 of the 11 main segments of the index. The strongest increases were recorded by IT (1.4%), energy (1.3%) and materials (0.9%). The weakest were telecommunications services (-0.6%), with Alphabet (-1.7%) losing the most), as well as real estate (-0.4%) and consumer goods (-0.1%).

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 22 of 30 companies rose. The biggest gains were recorded by Nvidia (2.8%), Home Depot and Caterpillar (1.4% each). The biggest declines were recorded by Coca-Cola, UnitedHealth Group (-1.1% each) and Johnson & Johnson (-0.7%).

The prices of two-thirds of the almost 3.3 thousand companies in the Nasdaq Composite rose. In the narrower Nasdaq 100, which gained 0.8 percent, 78 companies gained. However, the "magnificent seven" index increased its value by only 0.2 percent. Of the four companies in this group that gained in price, only Nvidia (2.8 percent) recorded a significant increase in price. Alphabet, the owner of Google, fell the most (-1.7 percent). Barclays sees a possibility of a 25 percent drop in the company's valuation if a judge orders it to sell the Chrome search engine in August.