US Stock Market Close: All Three Major Indices Rise Over 1%, China Golden Dragon Index Surges 3.3%, Tensions in the Middle East Ease

On Tuesday, Eastern Time, all three major US stock indices rose by more than 1%. The easing of tensions in the Middle East boosted market risk appetite. Fed Chairman Powell attended a congressional hearing, where investors sought clues about the interest rate path.

According to CCTV News, Trump had previously announced that Israel and Iran had reached a ceasefire agreement. However, the agreement appeared extremely fragile as both Israel and Iran accused each other of violating it. Despite this, investors still viewed the ceasefire as a sign of easing tensions.

Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments, said, "The stock market is rising strongly, and the ceasefire has really added fuel to the rebound in risky assets. We believe that investors' bets on the easing of tensions in the Middle East are indeed beneficial for the stock market, even though it has dragged down bonds and oil prices."

Jon Brager, portfolio manager at Palmer Square, commented, "For the market, the key events are the extent of US involvement and Iran's weak response, which is essentially a well-orchestrated show. So even if there are occasional clashes after the ceasefire agreement, the market has already regarded this risk as a thing of the past, and its focus may have shifted back to tariffs and fiscal policies."

On the same day, Powell reiterated his view at the hearing that inflation is expected to start rising soon, and the US Fed will continue to monitor the economic situation before deciding whether to lower interest rates.

This statement contradicts Trump's stance of calling for an immediate interest rate cut. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump once again fiercely criticized Powell, saying, "I hope Congress can really teach this super stupid and stubborn person a lesson. We will pay the price for his incompetence for many years to come."

Currently, financial market expectations are that the possibility of the US Fed lowering the benchmark interest rate at the end of its July policy meeting exceeds 20%, and the likelihood of the first interest rate cut in September is close to 70%.

In terms of economic data, due to the uncertainty brought about by Trump's trade policies, US consumer confidence declined again in June, reversing the improvement seen in May.

Consumer pessimism about the job market fell to its lowest level since March 2021. In addition, the proportion of consumers expecting an economic recession in the next 12 months has slightly increased.

Market Dynamics

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 507.24 points, or 1.19%, to 43,089.02; the Nasdaq Composite rose 281.56 points, or 1.43%, to 19,912.53; and the S&P 500 index rose 67.05 points, or 1.11%, to 6,092.22.

Among the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 index, the information technology/technology, financial, telecommunications, and healthcare sectors closed up between 1.61% and 1.19%, while the energy sector closed down 1.51%.

Among US stock industry ETFs, the semiconductor ETF closed up 3.67%, the global aviation industry ETF rose 3.05%, the global technology stock index ETF gained 2.08%, and the biotechnology index ETF, technology industry ETF, internet stock index ETF, and financial industry ETF rose between 1.98% and 1.50%. The banking industry ETF rose 1.09%, while the energy industry ETF closed down 1.30%.

Performance of Popular Stocks

Most large-cap technology stocks rose, with Intel up over 6%, Nvidia, Netflix, and Amazon up over 2%, Meta up over 1%, and Microsoft and Google rising slightly. Tesla fell over 2%, and Apple dropped slightly. Circle, the first listed stablecoin company, fell over 15%, with its total market capitalization falling below $50 billion.

Military stocks declined, with Lockheed Martin falling 2.6% and Raytheon Technologies falling 2.7%. After Bitcoin reached a one-week high, the stock prices of crypto companies rose, with Coinbase and Microstrategy up 12.1% and 2.7%, respectively.

Broadcom, a semiconductor manufacturer, saw its stock price hit a record high after HSBC upgraded its rating from "hold" to "buy".

Popular Chinese stocks listed in the US generally rose, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index up 3.31%, marking its largest single-day gain since May 13. Pony.ai rose over 16%, New Oriental rose over 13%, Kingsoft Cloud rose over 7%, Qifu Technology rose over 6%, Manbang and Pinduoduo rose over 5%, and TAL Education Group and Bilibili rose over 4%.

Company News

[Uber Expands Partnership with Waymo to Launch Robotaxi Service in Atlanta]

On Tuesday local time, Uber, the US ride-hailing platform, announced that it would expand its partnership with Waymo to officially launch a robotaxi service in Atlanta. Affected by this news, Uber's stock price surged nearly 8%, with a year-to-date gain of 52%. According to Uber, Waymo's robotaxi service will cover a 65-square-mile area around Atlanta, including downtown, Buckhead, and the Capitol View area, but it will not operate on highways or head to the airport. Waymo stated that it would initially deploy dozens of taxis in Atlanta and currently has over 1,500 robotaxis in the US.

[Purchasing Books to Train AI Does Not Constitute Infringement! US AI Star Company Wins Major Legal Victory]

According to the judgment issued by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Anthropic, a US AI startup, won the first groundbreaking judgment favorable to the AI industry: Judge William Alsup ruled that the company's digitization of legally purchased books for AI model training falls within the scope of fair use. However, the judge also stated that despite having legal avenues for purchase, the company had downloaded "millions of" pirated books via the internet, and this negligence still warranted separate legal liability.

[Novo Nordisk's Wegovy Enters Third Largest Country in Global Obesity Population, Starting Price at $50 per Week]

Novo Nordisk, a giant in weight-loss drugs, announced on Tuesday that it would launch five doses of its semaglutide injection Wegovy in the Indian market. The company has also formulated a pricing strategy tailored to local purchasing power for the Indian market. Novo Nordisk will introduce semaglutide injections with "India-specific pricing." The monthly pricing for the 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, and 1 mg doses is 17,345 rupees, which translates to 4,366 rupees per week, equivalent to $50 per week. The 1.7 mg dose is priced at 24,280 rupees per month, and the highest 2.4 mg dose is priced at 26,015 rupees per month, which translates to $75 per week.

[FedEx's Adjusted Operating Profit for the Fourth Fiscal Quarter Reaches $2.02 Billion, Exceeding Market Expectations]

FedEx's adjusted operating profit for the fourth fiscal quarter was $2.02 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.91 billion. Due to uncertainties in global demand, the company is temporarily not providing full-year profit guidance. The company expects adjusted EPS for the first fiscal quarter to be between $3.4 and $4, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03.