On June 26, 2026, traders are working at the New York Stock Exchange.
new york stock exchange
The tech sector has emerged as a clear winner in the first half of 2026. However, big US tech stocks enjoyed significant gains despite a sharp selloff at the end of June, while significantly outperforming their international counterparts.
Among MSCI’s sectoral indexes, the index for emerging market large- and mid-cap technology stocks was the best performer in the first half of the year, rising more than 90%.
In the European version, it increased by 44.8%, while in the US version, the top constituents include: Nvidia, apple, microsoft, broadcom and micron — increased by 19.4%.
This trend was also seen in other parts of the market. pan-european Stocks 600 The technology index rose 23.4% between January and June. S&P 500 Information Technology The index rose 19.4%.
High-tech oriented Nasdaq 100 Index – Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and alphabet Among its constituents, it rose 19.9% in the six months to June.
Comparatively, S&P500 It rose 9.55% in the first half of this year. Nasdaq Composite Add 12.79%; Dow Jones Industrial Average It rose by 8.85%. All three major Wall Street averages outperformed various major indexes elsewhere in the world.
Emerging markets continued to outperform across the board, with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index up 24% in the first half. Korean Kospi Japan jumped 101.1%, but Nikkei Stock Average It increased by about 39%.
pan-european Stocks 600 London rose more than 8%. FTSE100 Germany added 5.7% in the first half, but dachshund France rose by about 1.9%. CAC40 It rose by just over 3%.
Southern Europe’s index stands out in the region, while Spain’s index ibex 35 Portugal rose 12.5% PSI The index increased by 10.5%, with Italy’s FTSE MIB Increased by 14.7%.
Looking at individual tech stocks, Nvidia rose 7.3% in the first half of this year. But other big tech stocks were further hurt in the first half by the volatility that hit the sector, as investors weighed developments in the AI field. Microsoft stock, for example, lost 22.9% in value in the first half of this year.
Tech stocks rose in Asia and Europe, driven by strong gains in the semiconductor sector. TSMC Stock prices soared 55.5% in the first half, while South Korean stock prices rose 55.5% in the first half. SK Hynix It has increased by about 300%. Dutch semiconductor manufacturing equipment manufacturer ASMI and ASML They increased by 93.3% and 86.8%, respectively. BE Semiconductor‘s stock has more than doubled in value.
What’s next for stocks?
Global stock markets were volatile in the first half of this year, with AI concerns, the US-Iran war, and macroeconomic uncertainty causing disruption across asset classes.
BlackRock Investment Institute said in its mid-year outlook sent to clients on Tuesday that AI “increases the likelihood of a permanent growth break by accelerating innovation itself.”
“But the path to riches, if you even get there, will be through scarcity. Similar tensions are playing out in other investment themes, reshaping portfolios,” they said.
“Three questions remain unanswered: Will AI become a bubble? What will it cost? Who will capture its value? We remain overweight in US stocks and focus on bottleneck opportunities to participate in AI growth without picking winners in models such as power, grid, memory, chips, and data centers. Physical AI (robots, autonomous systems, manufacturing) is the next frontier.”
“Encouragingly, some of the pressures that weighed on the market in the first half of the year appear to be easing,” Anthony Willis, senior economist at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said in a note outlining the outlook for the second half of the year.
Willis said that while geopolitics remains important, monetary policy may be the bigger market driver in the second half of the year.
“Market pricing is likely to remain sensitive to incoming data and central bank communications as investors reassess whether and how often the Fed will need to raise rates again,” he said.
According to CME’s FedWatch tool, markets are currently pricing in a 66.3% chance that the Fed will keep rates unchanged at its July meeting, and a 66.9% chance that it will raise rates by at least a quarter of a point at the FOMC’s subsequent September meeting.
Willis added in Monday’s note that corporate earnings will also remain in focus.
“The key question is whether companies can monetize their spending and generate attractive returns on investment,” he said. “Expectations for AI-related capital expenditures, revenue growth, and profitability are currently elevated, meaning that revenue results can be a key driver of market fluctuations.”
Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid said in a note on Tuesday that there were four main reasons for the poor performance of the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks in June: extreme unwinding of positioning, concerns about AI hyperscalers’ capital spending, a more hawkish stance from the Federal Reserve, and rising chip costs.
“Although the global ‘AI fever’ continues, with benchmarks such as the KOSPI index up more than 100% since the beginning of the year, market leadership has so far moved away from the Mag 7,” he said.
