Nasdaq Composite Jumps 1.18% Today as Tech Stocks Rally on Easing Iran Tensions and Falling Oil Prices

The Nasdaq Composite climbed sharply Monday, snapping back from its worst weekly performance in months as investors rotated back into technology and artificial intelligence-linked stocks amid signs that tensions in the Middle East were easing and oil prices continued to retreat.

The tech-heavy index stood at 25,595.48 as of 11:17 a.m. EDT, up 297.87 points, or 1.18%, on the day. The gain follows a rough stretch last week in which the Nasdaq fell for five consecutive sessions, closing Friday down 0.24% at 25,297.62 and finishing the week with a steep 4.6% decline, its worst weekly showing in some time. The S&P 500 had slipped nearly 2% over the same period, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to buck the trend, rising 0.6% for the week as investors rotated into more defensive sectors.

Much of last week's weakness traced back to a sharp pullback in chip and AI-related stocks following a New York Times report that OpenAI was considering delaying its highly anticipated initial public offering to 2027, citing both the underwhelming post-IPO performance of SpaceX and broader volatility across AI-linked shares. Investors also weighed renewed geopolitical risk after President Donald Trump accused Iran of violating a ceasefire agreement with the United States, alleging in a social media post that Iranian forces had launched attack drones at ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, with one drone striking the deck of a large cargo vessel. Trump went further over the weekend, again threatening Iran with severe consequences following U.S. retaliatory strikes on Iranian military targets, keeping regional tensions elevated even as both sides have signaled a willingness to continue de-escalation talks.

Monday's rebound suggests markets are, for now, looking past those lingering risks. Oil prices extended Friday's retreat into the new week, with both major benchmarks having fallen more than 2% to close out last week, a decline that helped trigger a drop in Treasury yields and improved credit conditions for U.S. corporations. That combination of falling energy costs and lower borrowing costs has given investors renewed confidence to step back into risk assets, particularly technology and AI-related names that had borne the brunt of last week's selling.

Consumer sentiment data released late last week added to the more optimistic tone. The University of Michigan's final June reading came in at 49.5, modestly above the 49.0 consensus estimate and up 10.5% from May, with both current conditions and future expectations components improving. Longer-term inflation expectations at the five-year horizon fell sharply to 3.3%, down 0.6 percentage point from the prior month, while one-year inflation expectations eased slightly to 4.6%. Survey director Joanne Hsu pointed to a notable shift in how consumers view the path ahead.

"Expected business conditions over the next five years surged 16%," Hsu said.

Monday's rotation back into technology stocks has been broad. Megacap names including Nvidia, Intel, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta each gained more than 1.5% in early trading, reversing some of last week's losses across both the hyperscale cloud computing side of the AI trade and the semiconductor manufacturing side. Among the Dow's 30 components, Honeywell International led gainers with a jump of nearly 7%, followed by Amazon, up roughly 2.7%, and Alphabet, up about 2.15%. On the losing side, UnitedHealth, Merck and Sherwin-Williams each slipped modestly, reflecting some rotation away from the defensive health care and industrial names that had outperformed during last week's selloff.

One of the most dramatic individual movers Monday was Comcast, which surged more than 20% after announcing plans to spin off its media and technology businesses, including NBCUniversal, into a separate publicly traded company, a structural shift that investors appeared to welcome enthusiastically as a way to unlock value across the conglomerate's different operating units.

The broader semiconductor sector also continued to show standout performers even amid the recent volatility. Marvell Technology has surged 213% so far in 2026, vastly outperforming the broader market, while fellow chip name Astera Labs has also more than doubled in value over the same stretch, underscoring how unevenly the AI infrastructure boom has rewarded individual companies even as sentiment toward the sector overall has swung sharply in recent weeks.

Space and satellite stocks added another layer of activity to Monday's session. Rocket Lab announced it will acquire satellite communications company Iridium Communications in a cash-and-stock transaction valuing Iridium shares at $54 apiece, a deal the companies said would combine Rocket Lab's launch capabilities with Iridium's existing satellite network. Rocket Lab founder and Chief Executive Peter Beck framed the acquisition in sweeping terms.

"This is a defining moment for the space industry," Beck said.

The deal comes as SpaceX continues to draw outsized attention following its own record-setting initial public offering earlier this month. Nasdaq confirmed last week that SpaceX will become one of the fastest companies ever added to the Nasdaq-100 index, with index funds set to begin purchasing shares after the market closes July 6 ahead of the company's formal inclusion before trading opens July 7, just over three weeks after its public debut.

Looking ahead, investors have a busy stretch of economic data to digest in the coming days. June consumer confidence figures and the May Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey are due Tuesday, alongside earnings from Nike and Constellation Brands. Wednesday brings the ADP private payrolls report, June construction spending and the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index, while Thursday is expected to deliver the closely watched June nonfarm payrolls report, unemployment rate and hourly earnings data, all of which will help shape expectations for the Federal Reserve's next policy moves. U.S. markets will close Friday in observance of the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

For now, Monday's rally reflects a market willing to look past an unsettled geopolitical backdrop and lingering questions about the pace of AI infrastructure spending, betting instead that falling energy costs, easing inflation expectations and a steady stream of corporate dealmaking can sustain the technology sector's renewed momentum heading into the holiday-shortened week ahead.