US stocks end higher; chip surge offsets Iran worries

STORY: U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the Dow adding more than a quarter of a percent, the S&P 500 climbing more than eight-tenths of a percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gaining 1.3%:: Micron TechnologyChip stocks rallied, sparked by a 4.5% jump in shares of Micron Technology. The memory chip maker laid out plans to invest more than $250 billion in domestic chip manufacturing through 2035 to boost supply amid the AI boom.Micron's peers also joined the rally, with Applied Materials climbing more than 3% and SanDisk surging over 7.5%.AI-related stocks have been volatile lately as investors worried about the sustainability of a rally that has helped Wall Street reach record levels in 2026.Gina Martin Adams is chief market strategist at HB Wealth."Tech has obviously been in the limelight of equity markets for a while, but that worked against stocks in the month of June. We'll see if the month of July brings something different. Obviously, the sector is dealing with a lot of issues, including the upcoming earnings season, where expectations are pretty high, as well as a tremendous amount of new shares coming to the market. First with SpaceX and now with SK Hynix out of South Korea."Shares of Meta Platforms rose more than 4.5% after Reuters reported that the company plans to manufacture AI chips starting in September.:: PepsiCoElsewhere in the market, shares of PepsiCo fell more than 3% despite the company beating second-quarter revenue estimates. PepsiCo warned of higher commodity costs in the second half of the year at a time when the snack and beverage giant is increasing investments and lowering prices to attract value-conscious consumers.And shares of Costco sank more than 4% to a six-month low after the retailer reported decelerating comparable sales for June.