Wall Street, Europe and Asia All Close Green as the Nasdaq Hits Record Highs and AMD Breaks the $1 Trillion Mark
The S&P 500 rose 1.49%, the Nasdaq 2.26% to a record close, and Europe's major indexes finished higher, powered by an AI chip rally that pushed AMD's market cap above $1 trillion and by oil sliding toward $98 a barrel.
A Global Rally Turns Wall Street, Europe and Asia Green
Monday, September 21 and Tuesday, September 22 delivered some of the strongest gains markets have seen in weeks on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, the S&P 500 rose 1.49% to 7,764.70, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.26% to 27,122.09 — its second consecutive record close — and the Dow Jones gained 0.71% (+366.19 points) to 52,048.83. The rally carried into Europe on Tuesday: the IBEX 35 closed at 19,724.40 (+1.08%), the Euro Stoxx 50 at 6,318.20 (+1.31%), the DAX at 25,575.01 (+1.07%), the CAC 40 at 8,138.94 (+0.92%) and the FTSE MIB at 52,371.54 (+1.60%). Japan's Nikkei 225 also showed green, at 65,018.95 (+1.38%) — though, as explained below, that figure actually belonged to the previous Friday.
The Engine Behind the Rally: an AI Chip Frenzy and AMD's $1 Trillion Milestone
The main catalyst for Monday's Wall Street surge was a fresh leg up in AI-linked semiconductor stocks. AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) jumped roughly 9-10% to a record intraday high of $613.92, pushing its market capitalization above $1 trillion for the first time and putting it ahead of Intel in market value, according to Bloomberg and Semafor. Alpha Vantage data shows AMD closed Monday at $615.52 and extended gains Tuesday, up 1.34% to $623.77. Intel climbed more than 12% in the same session, part of what press coverage described as a broad rally across the entire chip sector.
The specific trigger was the launch of Muse, Meta's new AI agent, which became the top free download on Apple's App Store. The news sent Meta shares up more than 11% and reignited investor enthusiasm across the wider AI supply chain, beyond Nvidia — into memory, CPUs, networking and data-center infrastructure. That appetite was reinforced by a regional data point: South Korean semiconductor exports rose 259% year-over-year, as reported alongside coverage of the episode by Yahoo Finance and Semafor.
The Second Engine: Oil Slides Toward $98, Easing Pressure on Rates
At the same time, oil prices extended their slide to an 11-day low, with Brent crude approaching $98 a barrel on Tuesday, September 22, per Spectrum News. Yahoo Finance attributed part of the drop to hopes for a diplomatic opening between the US and Iran, after President Donald Trump signaled a willingness to meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian — easing the geopolitical risk premium that had kept crude elevated in prior weeks, tension we covered in our September 10 article on the Iran oil escalation. That drop in oil, together with Treasury yields easing back from recent highs, helped soften the inflation-driven caution that had gripped markets since the Fed's September 16 rate hike.
The Nikkei Caveat: Tokyo Closed for "Silver Week"
The 65,018.95 (+1.38%) figure shown for the Nikkei 225 actually reflects Friday, September 18's close, not a Tuesday session. Tokyo's stock exchange was closed from September 21 through 23 for so-called "Silver Week," Japan's first five-day consecutive holiday stretch in 11 years (Respect for the Aged Day, a bridging holiday, and the Autumnal Equinox). Friday's close already priced in two factors: the Bank of Japan's rate hike to 1.25% — a 31-year high, decided on September 18 by a 7-2 vote — and strength in tech names like Advantest, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank, which carry outsized weight in the price-weighted Nikkei.
Session Recap
| Index | Close | Change | Session |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,764.70 | +1.49% | Mon Sep 21 |
| Nasdaq Composite | 27,122.09 | +2.26% (record) | Mon Sep 21 |
| Dow Jones | 52,048.83 | +0.71% | Mon Sep 21 |
| IBEX 35 | 19,724.40 | +1.08% | Tue Sep 22 |
| Euro Stoxx 50 | 6,318.20 | +1.31% | Tue Sep 22 |
| DAX | 25,575.01 | +1.07% | Tue Sep 22 |
| CAC 40 | 8,138.94 | +0.92% | Tue Sep 22 |
| FTSE MIB | 52,371.54 | +1.60% | Tue Sep 22 |
| Nikkei 225 | 65,018.95 | +1.38% | Fri Sep 18 (Tokyo closed Sep 21-23) |
Sources: Stock Tracker's real-time market panel for index closes; Bloomberg, Semafor, Yahoo Finance, TheStreet, CNBC and Spectrum News for context on the AMD/Intel rally and the oil price drop; CNBC, Al Jazeera and BBNTimes for the Bank of Japan decision and Tokyo's holiday closure; Alpha Vantage (GLOBAL_QUOTE) for verified AMD pricing.
Levels and Key Things to Watch
- Whether the chip rally has legs: watch if AI enthusiasm broadens beyond Nvidia, AMD and Intel into memory, networking and infrastructure names, or fades as a one-off tied to the Muse launch
- Oil prices: confirmation of a US-Iran diplomatic opening could push Brent below $98, easing inflation pressure further; a fresh flare-up in tensions would reverse the move
- Tokyo's reopening after Silver Week: the Nikkei's first session back will show whether Japan's market confirms Friday's gains or corrects after several days of accumulated global news
- The Fed's October 27-28 meeting: markets remain focused on whether September's hike will be followed by another, as the Fed itself flagged
- Market breadth: much of this week's gains remain concentrated in a small group of AI-linked tech names, a risk factor if that leadership reverses
Implications for Investors
The contrast with the prior week is striking: just five days earlier, the Fed's rate hike had knocked more than 600 points off the Dow and pushed the 10-year Treasury yield back above 5%. This week's swing toward optimism shows the market remains willing to reward any credible AI catalyst — in this case, a Meta product launch — even against a backdrop of higher rates. That dependence is both the rally's main strength and its main risk: as long as the AI narrative keeps delivering milestones like AMD's trillion-dollar valuation, the market has a clear engine for further gains; if that narrative cools, the lack of breadth outside tech could leave indexes exposed to a correction as fast as the rally itself.
Conclusion
A historic rally in AI-linked semiconductors — with AMD joining the trillion-dollar club and Intel up more than 12% — combined with oil sliding toward $98 a barrel on hopes of a US-Iran diplomatic thaw, pushed Wall Street, Europe and, with an important caveat, Asia higher this week. The Nikkei's case, with Tokyo closed for "Silver Week" right after the Bank of Japan's rate hike, is a reminder that not every green number reflects a live session. With both the Fed and the BOJ in hiking mode and the market leaning heavily on the AI trade, whether this global rally holds will depend on tech optimism continuing to outrun an increasingly restrictive monetary backdrop.