Wall St set for strongest quarter in years as risk appetite holds despite US-Iran war

June 30 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes were on course to ​close June with their strongest quarterly gains in years, highlighting the resilience of equities despite ‌geopolitical challenges.

The S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab indexes were set for their best quarter in six years, while the blue-chip Dow (.DJI), opens new tab was on track for its biggest quarterly gain since 2022.

“Investors can’t see an end in sight to this bull run. Whenever there’s ​a bit of a sell-off, we seem to be in a situation where you get a fresh ​impetus to buy,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.

At 10:08 a.m. ET, ⁠the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab rose 3.72 points, or 0.01%, to 52,186.46, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 24.96 points, or ​0.34%, to 7,465.39 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 191.73 points, or 0.76%, to 26,011.87.

Recent weakness in heavyweight technology shares, ​however, has left the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite on track to snap two-month winning streaks in June. The Dow Jones, meanwhile, has fared better and is poised for a third consecutive month of gains.

Some analysts are pinning their hopes on the upcoming ​earnings season to boost stocks, especially after last week’s punishing selloff in semiconductors and tech shares.

“Technology has been experiencing ​a period of June gloom, but that could easily reverse as earnings season approaches,” said Brian Levitt, chief global market strategist ‌at Invesco.

Others ⁠warn that any meaningful gain in the second half of the year will need a breakthrough in the negotiations to end the U.S.-Iran conflict.

Traders are pricing in at least one rate hike by the Federal Reserve by the end of 2026, according to data compiled by LSEG — a far cry from expectations of easing rates earlier this year.

They are parsing through ​the latest job openings and ​consumer confidence data, and ⁠will also watch Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s comments at a high-profile economic conference in Portugal later on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 real estate index (.SPLRCR), opens new tab dropped 1.7%, the most among individual sectors ​on the benchmark. Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes were ​in the red.

Shares ⁠of Concentrix (CNXC.O), opens new tab dropped 20.7% to hit a record low after the customer experience firm lowered its forecasts for annual revenue and adjusted profit.

AeroVironment (AVAV.O), opens new tab soared 22%, following a jump in quarterly revenue.

Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab shares dipped 1% after brokerage Oppenheimer downgraded major Wall Street investment ⁠banks, recommending ​that investors redeploy capital into alternative asset managers.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by ​a 1.33-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.29-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

Neither the S&P 500 nor the Nasdaq Composite posted any ​new 52-week highs or lows.