Nasdaq heads for best Q2 since 2020 as chip stocks surge
Key takeaways
- The S&P 500 has risen about 14% over the same period, also its strongest quarter since mid-2020.
- Semiconductor stocks drove the major indexes forward on Tuesday.
- Zooming out to the full first half, small-caps were a standout: The Russell 2000 climbed more than 21%, a performance not seen since 1991, according to CNBC.
Nasdaq heads for best quarter since 2020 Nasdaq heads for best quarter since 2020 · Quartz · Bloomberg / Getty Images Cris Tolomia Tue, June 30, 2026 at 10:19 PM GMT+7 2 min read ^GSPC ^IXIC SMH ^RUT AMD U.S. stocks pushed higher on Tuesday, the final trading day of the second quarter, with the Nasdaq on pace to close out a 20% quarterly gain — its best since the second quarter of 2020. The S&P 500 has risen about 14% over the same period, also its strongest quarter since mid-2020.
Semiconductor stocks drove the major indexes forward on Tuesday. Intel stock jumped 4% and Advanced Micro Devices rose 3%, with Nvidia tacking on more than 1%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF was up 3%. The Dow added 123 points, a gain of roughly 0.2%, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted advances of 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively.
Zooming out to the full first half, small-caps were a standout: The Russell 2000 climbed more than 21%, a performance not seen since 1991, according to CNBC. Large-cap benchmarks also posted solid six-month results, with the Nasdaq up more than 11% and both the S&P 500 and the Dow each gaining more than 8% — the latter's strongest January-through-June stretch since 2021.