The American stock markets have maintained their potent momentum, given the historic-high levels attained by major indices. This broad market rally is mainly attributed to strong performances by companies in the technological sector. The positive sentiment on Wall Street is a result of a growing level of confidence in companies’ and the economy’s potential for success in the initial months of 2026.
Technology majors lead market surge to an all-time high
The S&P 500 recorded an increase of 0.5% during its market on Tuesday as it moved on in its quest to achieve fresh highs, led by technology stocks. The major players within the technology field recorded outstanding performance as they recorded major gains, thereby having a major impact on the market. Alphabet recorded an increase of 1.1% as it attained fresh highs and reached a milestone as Google’s parent company, second only to NVDA, as it surpassed Apple in market value.
Companies in data storage equipment, such as Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings, saw heavy losses, as stocks fell between 5.5% and 8%. Defense stocks surged after President Trump expressed his intentions to boost defense spending to levels of $1.5 trillion in 2027. Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics stocks rose between 2% and 4.5%.
The energy industry is picking up steam as the jump in the price of crude oil
WTI crude futures were up by 4.5% to $58.50 per barrel during the Thursday market, and this saw most stocks in the energy and oil services sector trend upwards during the course of the trading day with APA, Halliburton, and Occidental Petroleum recording the highest gain among the stocks with an increase of 8%, 6.2%, and 5.5% respectively, and this showed a sharp reaction to the sector with the increase in commodity prices. The Energy Sector was among the best sectors that performed well during the market rally of the S&P 500.
Companies in the data storage equipment portfolio, like Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings, experienced massive losses as stocks fell between 5.5% and 8%. Defense stocks surged because of an announcement from US President Trump that he wants to increase expenditures on defense to $1.5 trillion in the year 2027. Stocks from companies like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics surged between 2% and 4.5%.
Alphabet nears record market cap of $4 trillion
The incredible performance displayed by Alphabet continues unabated, with even more speed following its performance of 65% in the year 2025, and currently leading as the best stock among the Magnificent Seven in the past year. The performance displayed by the stock in the company can be largely associated with its acceptance of its new model, Gemini 3, followed by its launch in November of the preceding year, with its performance acquiring admiration from the tech giants.
The CEO of Salesforce recently displayed admiration in view of Marc Benioff, stating, “I’m never going back” to ChatGPT because of the performance displayed by Gemini 3.
Market volatility is also expected as market players react to the approaching announcement of economic figures and financial results in the last months of January. The monetary policies and interest rate announcements that are expected to impact the market value related to the information and communication technology industry are closely followed by market players. The inflation rate and employment figures also give clues to the sustainability of market trends to investors.
The reaction to the Gemini 3 space mission has helped Alphabet introduce tensor processing units proprietary to the company, jointly conceptualized with Broadcom, with the aim of setting up an alternative for the current leaders in the industry, Nvidia’s graphics processing units. Alphabet has managed to position itself in the industry by optimizing its moat and has started making revenues beyond its search engine capabilities.
