{"id":66474,"date":"2026-08-13T12:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/tech-sector-surge-propels-nasdaq-and-sp-500-as-inflation-concerns-ease\/66474\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T12:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:07:14","slug":"tech-sector-surge-propels-nasdaq-and-sp-500-as-inflation-concerns-ease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/tech-sector-surge-propels-nasdaq-and-sp-500-as-inflation-concerns-ease\/66474\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Sector Surge Propels Nasdaq and S&P 500 as Inflation Concerns Ease"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. stock market exhibited strong bullish momentum during midday trading on Thursday, August 13th, 2026. Investors are reacting positively to a cooling inflationary environment and robust corporate earnings, particularly within the technology and semiconductor sectors. While the blue-chip Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average faced slight headwinds, the broader market indices, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq, showed significant gains as risk appetite returned to Wall Street.<\/p>\n

Market Index Performance<\/h2>\n

As of midday, the market indices are showing a clear divergence between growth-oriented sectors and traditional value stocks. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ<\/a>), which tracks the Nasdaq 100, is leading the charge with a gain of 1.05%. This rally is mirrored by the State Street SPDR S&P 500<\/a> ETF Trust (SPY<\/a>), which is up 0.47%, reflecting broad-based strength in large-cap equities.<\/p>\n

In contrast, the State Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA<\/a>) is slightly in the red, down 0.14%, as investors rotate out of defensive positions and into high-growth opportunities. Meanwhile, small-cap stocks are seeing modest interest, with the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM<\/a>) rising 0.2%. The bond market is also seeing a bid, with the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT<\/a>) gaining 0.59%, suggesting that investors are increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve may have room to ease monetary policy in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Midday Momentum and Sector Highlights<\/h2>\n

The primary driver of today's upward trajectory is the semiconductor and artificial intelligence space. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH<\/a>) has surged 1.75%, while the iShares A.I. Innovation and Tech Active ETF (BAI<\/a>) is the standout performer of the day, climbing 2.11%.<\/p>\n

This momentum is supported by a decline in volatility, though the iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX<\/a>) is up 0.59%, indicating that while the trend is positive, some traders remain cautious ahead of major upcoming economic data. In the commodities space, gold<\/a> and silver<\/a> are under pressure, with the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD<\/a>) falling 1.21%, as the "risk-on" sentiment draws capital away from safe-haven assets.<\/p>\n

Major Corporate News and Tickers<\/h2>\n

Technology giants are dominating the headlines today. Apple Inc. (AAPL<\/a>) is seeing active trading with a 0.7% gain, while Micron<\/a> Technology, Inc. (MU<\/a>) remains a focal point for investors, trading near $963.44. In the premarket<\/a> and early session, XChange TEC.INC (XHG<\/a>) saw a massive speculative surge of over 500%, though such moves remain volatile.<\/p>\n

In the hardware and infrastructure space, Applied Materials Inc (AMAT<\/a>) is one of the most anticipated movers as it prepares to report its fiscal third-quarter results after the closing bell. Analysts are looking for an EPS of $3.40 on revenue of nearly $9 billion. Other companies making waves include Brookfield Corporation (BN<\/a>), which reported Q2 earnings this morning, and JD.com, Inc. (JD<\/a>), which is benefiting from positive sentiment in the e-commerce space.<\/p>\n

Upcoming Market Events<\/h2>\n

The earnings calendar remains a critical catalyst for market direction. Following today's close, investors will parse results from Applied Materials Inc (AMAT<\/a>) and Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU<\/a>). Looking ahead to next week, the retail sector will take center stage with highly anticipated reports from Home Depot, Inc. (HD<\/a>) on Tuesday and Target Corporation (TGT<\/a>) on Wednesday. These releases will provide essential insights into the health of the U.S. consumer and the impact of sustained interest rates on discretionary spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. stock market exhibited strong bullish momentum during midday trading on Thursday, August 13th, 2026. Investors are reacting positively […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,6824],"tags":[95,225,633,828,3710,4223,4380,5027],"class_list":["post-66474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-market-update","category-featured","tag-nasdaq","tag-aapl","tag-nvda","tag-amat","tag-federal-reserve","tag-inflation","tag-stock-market","tag-semiconductors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}