US stocks scream higher near end of session on report Trump to ease chip export curbs

Stick save and a beauty.

US stocks had given up most of the gains inspired by confirmed trade talks with China after Apple tanked the market by saying that it was considering adding AI search in its browser, and then careened into negative territory once again after the Federal Reserve warned on heightened stagflationary risks for the US economy and President Trump said he wouldn’t unilaterally drop tariffs on China ahead of these discussions.

Then, near the end of the session, Bloomberg reported that the president is planning on easing export restrictions on semiconductors that were outlined by his predecessor, sending chip stocks sharply higher and pulling the market to session highs.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ultimately closed up 0.4%, with the Russell 2000 gaining 0.3%.

Technology was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, with Nvidia and Qualcomm pacing gains among chip stocks. Super Micro, which was deep in the red after issuing poor guidance just eight days after releasing ugly preliminary results, managed to pare most of its losses thanks to this report, as well.

Shares of Alphabet suffered a massive decline on testimony from Apple VP of Services Eddy Cue that underscored the challenge that AI poses to its dominance in search.

Disney surged double digits after crushing on earnings and boosting its full-year outlook, buoyed by strength in its parks business.

Novo Nordisk managed to gain even after cutting sales and profit guidance by indicating that it expects competition in the weight-loss drug space to subside in the second half of this year.

EV companies Rivian and Lucid tumbled after posting heavy losses.

Elsewhere in automakers in the red: Ford fell after saying it plans to raise the price of three vehicles built in Mexico by up to $2,000.

And in not-quite-car-company losers, Uber sank after missing on earnings and revenues.