Stock market today: Mega-cap tech drives S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record highs

Shares of Microsoft, Apple, and Broadcom all surged between 1.5% and 5% on Tuesday while Nvidia, Amazon, and Alphabet were also higher.

• US stocks surged with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 hitting record highs on mega-cap tech strength.
• Shares of Apple, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Broadcom all surged at least 2% on Monday.
• Meanwhile, two Wall Street strategists boosted their year-end S&P 500 price targets.

US stocks surged on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 closing at fresh record highs driven by strength in the mega-cap tech trade.

Shares of Microsoft, Apple, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Broadcom all surged between 1.5% and 5%, while shares of Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Alphabet, and Amazon traded in the green as well.

Investor sentiment seems to be turning more bullish as Wall Street strategists update their year-end price targets for the S&P 500.

Goldman Sachs strategist David Kostin boosted his year-end S&P 500 price target to 5,600, representing potential upside of about 3% from current levels.

Kostin had previously had a 5,200 year-end price target for the S&P 500. The strategist said continued earnings growth from mega-cap tech stocks could boost the index to his new target.

Evercore ISI boosted its S&P 500 year-end price target to a street-high 6,000. The firm said continued AI hype should drive stocks higher for the next two years, adding that the S&P 500 could tag 7,000 by the end of 2025.

Separately, recent comments from Federal Reserve Presidents Neel Kashkari and Patrick Harker suggest the Fed will cut interest rates one time this year, likely at its December policy meeting.

"We're in a very good position right now to take our time, get more inflation data, get more data on the economy, on the labor market, before we have to make any decisions," Kashkari told CBS on Sunday.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Monday:

• S&P 500: 5,473.23, up 0.77%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 38,778.10, up 0.49% (+188.94 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 17,857.02, up 0.95%

Here's what else happened today:

• The Dow Jones will eclipse 100,000 within the next decade amid a "turbo booster" combo of earnings growth and rate cuts, a CIO said.
• Tesla stock could plunge 91% to $15 per share as the stock is re-rated as a car company, a short seller said.
• Bitcoin will hit $500,000 by the end of this decade on strong ETF demand, analysts at Bernstein said.
• Get ready for a stock market sell-off of at least 5% in the coming months, CFRA strategist Sam Stovall predicted.
• The AI boom is creating a divergence in the most dominant tech trades of the past decade, and it probably won't stop anytime soon.
• The potential for a stock market crash is on the minds of many stock forecasters. Here's what they are saying.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2.29% to $79.84 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was higher by 2.17% to $84.41 a barrel.
• Gold edged lower by 0.63% to $2,334.30 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield jumped four basis points to 4.27%.
• Bitcoin edged higher by 0.02% to $66,645.