The U.S. stock market has closed out its most profitable quarter in six years, a milestone celebrated by President Donald Trump as indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran wrapped up in Qatar, easing global energy supply fears.
A Tech-Driven Market Surge
The S&P 500 surged nearly 15% over the past three months, marking its strongest quarterly performance since the world began recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This figure comes as the S&P 500 index closed at 6,528.52 points on March 31 and 7,499.3 points on June 30, totaling a 14.87% increase.
This massive showing was largely propelled by an almost 30% jump in mega-cap technology stocks between late March and May, including Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA).
The broader market also saw significant gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 8.9% in its best first half of the year since 2021. Investors have been heavily influenced by the geopolitical landscape, betting on an official end to the recent U.S.-Iran conflict.
