The Nasdaq had its best quarter since 2020, while the Dow posted its strongest first half in five years. What's next?

On Tuesday, the U.S. market wrapped up the month, the first half of the year, and the quarter. Over the past three months, only the Nasdaq Composite posted a 20% gain. On Tuesday, the tech index rebounded after last week’s decline, while the Dow Jones hit a high for the second day in a row. Analysts surveyed by Reuters lowered their forecast for the average price of oil in 2026 for the first time in five months, noting that supply is increasing amid the resumption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, while demand growth is slowing.

— The S&P 500 broad-market index rose 0.78% on June 30 and closed at 7,498.8 points. It fell 1% over the month.

— The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), a blue-chip index, rose 0.26% on Tuesday and reached a new high of 52,317.81 points. For the month, the DJIA rose 2.5%.

— The Nasdaq Composite technology index rose 1.52% for the day, to 26,213.72 points. Over the month, the index fell 2.8%.

— The Russell 2000 Small- and Mid-Cap Index rose 0.56% on Tuesday and reached a new high of 3,027.19 points. Over the past month, it has risen 3.7%.

— Brent crude oil futures fell 0.31% on Tuesday to $72.92 per barrel, while WTI crude oil futures fell 0.89% to $70.12 per barrel.

— Bitcoin fell 2.88% over the past 24 hours, dropping to $58,666.

Over the past six months, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a blue-chip index, has risen by more than 8%, marking its best first half of the year since 2021, according to CNBC. The S&P 500 also rose by more than 8% during this period, while the Nasdaq Composite gained more than 11%. The Russell 2000 rose by more than 21% over the six-month period, marking its best first half of the year since 1991.

In May and June, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite rose by approximately 14% and 20%, respectively, marking their strongest gains since the second quarter of 2020. The Dow gained more than 12% during this period—its strongest performance since the fourth quarter of 2022.

In fact, 88% of the DJIA’s June gains came from just one stock. Caterpillar, a manufacturer of industrial equipment and power generators, was the index’s top performer, adding 22.3% to its market capitalization over the month, according to MarketWatch.

The start of the year was marked by high volatility. Although major indices hit new all-time highs, this occurred against a backdrop of sharp fluctuations in energy prices due to the war with Iran, as well as uncertainty surrounding the sustainability of AI spending. The second quarter, however, proved to be particularly strong for the stock market: concerns about AI subsided, and the conflict in the Middle East appears to be nearing a resolution, according to CNBC.

Oil prices, which had soared above $100 per barrel in the second quarter and were weighing on inflation expectations, began to decline. Following the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, economists and analysts in a monthly Reuters survey lowered their expectations for the average price of oil in 2026 for the first time since the start of the conflict in the Persian Gulf. Prior to that, they had consistently raised these forecasts for five months. The average forecast of 31 experts for Brent crude fell to $84.5 per barrel, down from $90.44 a month earlier. According to survey participants, U.S. crude oil will cost an average of $79.49 per barrel, down from May’s forecast of $84.63.

This news story is being updated

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor