20 Minutes to the Bell, and Nasdaq's Still Grinning

With 20 minutes left before the close, the S&P 500 sits at 7,640.87 (+1.18%) and the Nasdaq at 26,427.51 (+1.73%), both still climbing. That's actually up from the 03:10 check-in — S&P 500 +0.07pp, Nasdaq +0.13pp higher — so this morning's bounce didn't fade into the close, it kept adding a little more juice.

Cooling oil prices and long-end yields settling down were the backdrop for the whole session — the Dow reportedly ran up as much as 474 points intraday on that relief — and on top of that, chip names like Intel, Micron and AMD ripped late in the day to drag the Nasdaq higher. Sector-wise, cybersecurity stayed firm while utilities and copper/mining names lagged, so money rotated out of defensives and into growth. Yesterday's Korean session (9/17 close) echoed the same tilt: KOSPI barely moved (-0.04%) while KOSDAQ ran ahead at +0.76%.

On my own holdings, Microsoft is sitting at +25.7%, Nvidia +3.0%, and ConocoPhillips +4.8% in the green, with only Vertex in the red at -3.2% — that's just where the tally stands, not today's move. What's left to watch in these final 20 minutes is whether this chip-and-tech rally holds all the way to the closing bell.