U.S. Stock Market Reaches Record Highs as Chipmakers and Bitcoin Soar
On Monday, October 6th, 2025, the U.S. stock market saw significant gains, with technology shares leading the way and propelling the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes towards record closing highs. The surge in investor sentiment was largely driven by several high-profile deals in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, outweighing concerns over the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which is now in its sixth day.
One of the major contributors to the market’s success was Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), whose shares jumped 26.1% after announcing a major supply agreement with OpenAI. This partnership has the potential to generate tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue for AMD, as well as allowing OpenAI to acquire up to a 10% stake in the company. The news of this deal caused the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index to rise 3.9%.
According to Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York, “The economic backdrop, at least until the government shutdown, has been fairly solid. Earnings season is coming up and there are a lot of favorable themes, so the path of least resistance is higher.”
Despite concerns over the government shutdown, financial markets are still predicting a 94.6% probability of a 25 basis-point rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s October meeting. However, the delay in the release of key economic reports due to the shutdown has left investors relying on private data to assess the timing of any potential rate cuts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28.56 points, or 0.06%, to 46,729.72. The S&P 500 gained 32.63 points, or 0.49%, to 6,748.42, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 186.15 points, or 0.82%, to 22,966.16.
Among the major sectors, technology and consumer discretionary stocks saw the most significant gains, while consumer staples experienced a decline. According to analysts, S&P 500 companies are expected to report aggregate earnings growth of 8.8% for the third quarter, according to LSEG data.
In other market news, Tesla saw a 4.4% increase in its stock price after hinting at an upcoming event on social media platform X. On the other hand, Starbucks saw a 4.2% decrease in its stock price after TD Cowen reduced its price target, citing weaker spending among younger consumers.
Bitcoin also made headlines as it traded above $125,000 on Sunday, causing a surge in the shares of crypto-related firms such as Coinbase, MicroStrategy, Riot Platforms, and MARA Holdings.
In the banking sector, Comerica saw a 14.3% increase after Fifth Third announced a $10.9 billion all-stock acquisition of the lender. However, Verizon saw a 4.8% decrease following the appointment of former PayPal chief executive Dan Schulman as its new CEO.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a ratio of 1.24 to 1. The Nasdaq recorded 2,731 gainers and 1,885 losers. The S&P 500 posted 43 new 52-week highs and eight new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite registered 172 new highs and 48 new lows.
This news story was distributed by Pressat, a leading UK-based press release distribution service.
