S&P 500 Closes at 7,500 on Thursday, Intel Surges 10.6% on Apple Chip Partnership as Market Shakes Off Fed Rate-Hike Fears

Since our June 18 coverage noted nine straight weekly S&P gains and a Schwab strategist warning of casino-like behavior, the streak has stretched further: Thursday's close gave the index its 11th winning week in the last 12.

Thursday's Numbers

The S&P 500 gained 1.08% to close at 7,500.58, according to CNBC. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.91% to settle at 26,517.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the laggard, rising just 72.15 points, or 0.14%, to 51,564.70.

For the holiday-shortened week, the S&P gained 0.9%, the Dow advanced 0.7%, and the Nasdaq jumped 2.4%.

Chips Did the Work

One announcement drove most of Thursday's momentum. President Donald Trump said Intel will partner with Apple on designing chips domestically. Intel shares rose 10.6% on the news. Nvidia climbed roughly 3% and Micron Technology was up nearly 9%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) jumped more than 6%.

Robert Conzo, CEO of The Wealth Alliance, told CNBC he sees "more bullishness around companies working together because of AI infrastructure and the effects of AI within many, many different competing industries." He called the Apple-Intel deal "a little proxy for what you could see happening in the future."

The Fed Overhang Didn't Disappear

Wednesday's sell-off set the stage. The Federal Reserve's first policy meeting under Chairman Kevin Warsh produced a "dot plot" showing nine of 18 Fed officials now expect interest rates to rise in 2026, according to CNBC. Warsh complicated the read further by declining to submit his own rate forecast, unusual for a sitting chairman, while repeatedly stressing "price stability" at the press conference in language markets read as hawkish.

Rate-sensitive investors have legitimate concerns. If the Fed follows through on even one hike, it would reverse the easing cycle that partly underwritten this rally. Valuations at S&P 7,500 leave little cushion if the rate environment turns.

Conzo pushed back on the gloom, telling CNBC he sees "pretty positive forces" underneath the uncertainty: strong corporate earnings, a better-than-expected May jobs report, and recent upbeat retail sales figures. His argument is that the macro foundation justifies current levels even with rate risk on the table.

SpaceX Post-IPO Investors Are Nearly Underwater

One footnote from Thursday's CNBC coverage: the average investor who bought SpaceX shares in the open market after its IPO debut has seen nearly all of their gains disappear, according to CNBC. A sharp pullback erased a large portion of the post-debut run. CNBC's source did not specify the exact percentage decline or the exact price level at which the average open-market buyer purchased, so precise loss figures cannot be confirmed from available data.

Retail buyers chasing momentum into a freshly listed, high-profile name and immediately giving back most of their gains is exactly the behavior Schwab strategist Liz Ann Sonders flagged earlier this week.

What the Warsh Fed Actually Means

Warsh's rate-forecast abstention is unusual and the market lacks a clean historical template for it. Nine hawkish dots out of 18 officials is a bare majority, and it is not the same as a committed hiking cycle. But it is also not a green light to ignore rate risk.

The unresolved question heading into summer: if inflation data over the next two months confirms the Fed's hawkish lean, does the S&P hold 7,500, or does the eleven-week winning streak finally crack?