S&P 500 Index: Intel-Apple Chip Deal Sparks Broad Tech Stock Rally

Intel Gives Thursday’s Premarket a Reason to Forget the Fed

S&P 500 futures are up 0.8% Thursday morning, Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 1.5%, and Dow futures added roughly 195 points. Intel is driving the entire tape, surging nearly 9% in premarket after President Trump announced that Apple agreed to partner with the company to design and manufacture chips in the United States. Wednesday’s hawkish Fed meeting took the S&P down to the retracement zone and the bears had control going into the close. They do not have it right now.

Apple Chose Intel and the Foundry Story Just Got Real

President Trump announced it directly: “Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America.”

That volume has been going to TSMC for years. Apple deciding to bring it to Intel’s fabs is the contract win that turns a turnaround strategy into an actual order book. Every major tech company evaluating domestic chip manufacturing just watched Apple go first.

Marvell Technology gained nearly 7% on the news. Lam Research and Applied Materials each advanced about 5%. Micron climbed more than 4% and Nvidia added over 1%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF jumped more than 4%. A single partnership announcement lifted the entire sector because the market is not pricing one deal. It is repricing the domestic manufacturing theme.

Stocks in the News

SpaceX slipped 1.2% Thursday after Wednesday’s 5% drop. Two straight sessions of selling after a 62% run from the IPO and the next few days will tell you whether this is healthy profit-taking or the start of something larger. The momentum has been extraordinary but public markets eventually demand more than conviction.

Pfizer lost about 1% on the departure of CFO Dave Denton in August. Accenture fell sharply after announcing $4.2 billion in cybersecurity acquisitions when the market wanted capital discipline.

Lower crude prices gave the travel names a lift. Carnival gained 3%, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line advanced roughly 2%, and United Airlines, Delta and American all traded higher. Fuel costs are the single biggest variable expense for cruise operators and airlines and cheaper oil runs straight to the margin line.

Wednesday’s Fed Meeting Was Hawkish but Thursday Is Not Trading It

The Fed held rates at 3.50% to 3.75% and the dot plot showed nine of 18 policymakers expecting higher rates in 2026.

Sonu Varghese at Carson Group said it best: “The Fed held rates steady but spoiled the mood with a much more hawkish dot plot. The bigger point is that policy still looks loose for an economy where inflation remains a problem and the labor market is stabilizing.”

David Zervos at Jefferies put it shorter: “The market doesn’t like regime change.”

Wednesday’s selloff proved both of them right. Thursday’s premarket proved something else. The market absorbed the hawkish surprise overnight, got a fresh catalyst from Intel before the opening bell, and bought futures aggressively into it.

Initial jobless claims came in at 226,000 Thursday and the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index jumped to 10.3 from negative 0.4 in May with new orders, shipments and employment all improving. The economy is not giving the bears the weakness they need to make the hawkish case stick.

Daily S&P 500 Index (SPX) Technical Analysis

Today is a critical day for the S&P 500 Index. Aggressive buyers are either going to overcome the pivot at 7474.57 and go after the swing top at 7577.92 and eventually the record high at 7620.90. Or they are going to short weakness under the 50% level at 7429.38 with the 50-day moving average at 7301.28 the next objective.

The main range is 7620.90 to 7237.85. Its retracement zone at 7429.38 to 7474.57 is controlling the near-term direction of the index.

A potentially bearish secondary lower top has been formed on the swing chart at 7577.92, which gives the bears the upper hand. A bearish tone will build under 7429.38 with traders eyeing the 50-day MA as the minimum objective and the swing bottom at 7237.85, a potential trigger point for an acceleration to the downside.

Breaking the 50-day MA will also put the major retracement zone at 6968.90 to 6815.03 on the radar. And that includes the 200-day MA at 6897.21.

But this bearish outlook goes away if buyers can overcome 7474.57 and build enough upside momentum to challenge 7577.92. Taking out this level will put 7620.90 back on the radar.

What to Watch

Intel landed the deal that could define its next five years and the chip sector followed it higher across the board. The Fed was hawkish Wednesday and the market’s response Thursday morning was to buy Intel, buy chips, and buy travel stocks.

The bears formed a secondary lower top at 7577.92 on the S&P 500 and they need a close below 7429.38 to keep it alive. Right now the bulls are not giving it to them. A push above 7474.57 that holds through the close puts 7577.92 back in play and if that level breaks, 7620.90 is the next stop.

More Information in our Economic Calendar.