Thursday, 9 July 2026
Tech led a broad rally as geopolitical fears continued to ease.
Markets closed higher across the board, with technology and financials doing the heavy lifting while energy and utilities sat out the move. The rally was driven by falling yields, easing credit conditions, and signals that diplomatic progress on the Iran front is pulling a meaningful risk premium out of oil prices, even as the military situation there remained active and contradictory. The tension that lingers is in semiconductors, which drifted lower over the week despite the artificial intelligence infrastructure story remaining firmly intact, and in oil, which reversed course today after a sharp weekly spike.
Why it mattered: Today's broad advance confirms the uptrend is holding, but the split between a climbing tape and unresolved pressures in semiconductors and oil means the next session will test whether this strength has real conviction behind it.
What we said to watch
Watch whether semiconductor stocks begin to recover and rejoin the broader rally, if they remain under pressure while the rest of the market pushes higher, that divergence becomes the story.
This is the reading as it was written on the day. It has not been edited with hindsight, and it may have turned out to be wrong.
Market intelligence only. Not financial advice, not a recommendation, and not an offer to buy or sell any security. No trade execution.