Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on December 30, 2025 in New York City.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
of S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average It reached new highs on Tuesday as investors weathered the recent U.S. attack on Venezuela.
The broad market index rose 0.7%, hitting a new intraday high. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 495 points, or 1%, to a new intraday high. of Nasdaq Composite It rose by 0.6%.
“Magnificent Seven” members Amazon It pushed up the three major averages, rising more than 3%. Other stocks related to artificial intelligence also supported the broader market, including: micron technology and Palantir Technologies. Micron rose about 8% and Palantir rose more than 3%.
It’s only the third trading day of the new year, but semiconductor stocks are already plummeting, led by Micron. Following Tuesday’s gains, the stock has increased about 18% since the beginning of the year. This comes from a year in which the name was a big hit, as it soared over 240% in 2025.
“There was a bit of a lull in the tech industry at the end of the year, but I don’t think anyone doubts that AI is a game-changing technology,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird. “We see semiconductor stocks leading the way, which is probably to be expected, but that cyclical rotation is still continuing.”
“You can make AI trading and tech stocks work, and you can make other cyclical elements of the market work as well,” he continued. “We may expect this to happen in 2026, when the economy will get even hotter with interest rate cuts, massive fiscal stimulus, and the AI craze coming ever closer to a crescendo.”
The 30-stock benchmark closed at an all-time high on Monday, hitting its highest point of the day after President Donald Trump encouraged big investments from U.S. oil companies while the U.S. captured and ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro over the weekend.
Energy stocks rose broadly on Monday, with the S&P 500 energy sector posting its best one-day gain since July.
Mayfield pointed out that one of the reasons why developments between the United States and Venezuela have not affected the market is the role of Latin American countries in the global economy, and more specifically in the oil market.
“It’s minimal enough that we don’t see a reaction like we did in Ukraine and Russia. The main reason for that decline was a huge jump in oil prices. We just don’t see that here, and if anything, I think the market is pricing in a little bit of potential for increased supply in the future if some of these sanctioned barrels come back into the market,” he said.
The strategist added: “When geopolitical events like this affect markets and consumer sentiment, they tend to affect the oil market, but that’s not the case here at all.”
