Chip Stocks Rebound Adds Nearly $250 Billion as Micron and Intel Lead While Most of Wall Street Falls

Semiconductor shares are pulling the market higher on Monday even though most stocks are falling. A basket of 60 chip related stocks has recovered nearly $250 billion in market value, with gains spread across memory makers, chip designers and equipment suppliers. Micron and Intel are each up more than 2%, Sandisk is up nearly 5%, and AMD, Nvidia and Western Digital are joining the rebound. Almost 90% of the chip basket is higher, while roughly 70% of S&P 500 members are lower.

Narrow Market Breadth and Equal Weight S&P 500

The equal weight S&P 500 ETF is trading lower even as the main index advances. That gap shows how much the headline recovery depends on a small group of winners rather than a broad move across the market.

Memory Stocks Bear Market and March Rally Leaders

Many buyers are returning to familiar names. Micron and Sandisk lost about 15% and 18% last week as memory stocks slid into another bear market. Both had helped drive the spring rally from the March lows, when hopes of a US and Iran ceasefire improved. Among the S&P 500’s 100 strongest performers from March 30 through June 2, 61 are rising Monday, while 84 of the 100 weakest are falling.

Intel Upgrade, CoreWeave and Chip Index Levels

Intel has a fresh catalyst after JPMorgan upgraded it to Neutral from Underweight, pointing to opportunities tied to AI demand and chip scarcity. The mood is tougher elsewhere in AI. CoreWeave gave back most of its premarket gains despite a Goldman Sachs upgrade to Buy, as its financing needs were a focus of last week’s selling.