As of press time, the S&P 500 rose 0.16%, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.04%, and the Dow Jones rose 0.07%.

Wednesday (June 19th) is June holiday in the United States (Juneteenth National Independence Day, also known as June Independence Day), and the US stock and other American financial markets will be closed.

US stocks performed positively on Monday, with the S&P 500 up nearly 0.8% and the Nasdaq up 1%, both hitting historic highs. The Dow rose by about 0.5%, ending a four-day decline.

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said:" Investors essentially believe that the current trend is my friend until it ends. At present, they have not really seen anything that will cause this upward trend to end. "

Tech stocks performed well, helping the tech-heavy Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices to rise. Of note, Broadcom rose more than 5% on Monday, while Apple rose by about 2%.

Jameson Coombs, an economist at West Pacific Bank, said:" The optimistic mood about the resilience of the economy, corporate profit improvement, and the potential start of rate cuts has supported the stock market, although people are worried that the uptrend is mainly concentrated in a few large tech stocks."

Despite the continued record highs in major US stock indices, Marko Kolanovic, chief global market strategist at JPMorgan, known as Wall Street's big bear, has not changed his bearish position. However, Kolanovic provided investors with a "possibly better" scenario, which would prevent his pessimistic predictions from becoming reality.

Kolanovic predicts that the S&P 500 index's target by the end of 2024 will be 4,200 points, which means the index could fall by 23% from current levels, also the lowest target on Wall Street.

Kolanovic said in a report on Monday: "We're cautious because we don't see much re-rating up the US equity space, and any re-rating has to come from earnings growth, which we think is not enough to compensate for stock risks, even under the best of scenarios."

Data from Wells Fargo Investment Research Institute (WFII) shows that although investors strongly urge the Fed to start cutting interest rates, history shows that the decline in the S&P 500 index may occur at the same time as the start of the interest rate cycle.

WFII investment strategy analyst Austin Pickle drew the return on investment of the S&P 500 index and the number of days from the Fed's first rate cut to the subsequent low point of the index in a report on Monday.

Austin Pickle found that since 1974, the average drop in the index within 250 days after the Fed's first rate cut was about 20%. He said:" In other words, investors should not equate the first rate cut with a signal of reducing the market alert. "

Investors welcomed the much-anticipated May retail sales data on Tuesday.

The US Department of Labor reported that lower revenue for gas stations and car dealerships due to declining gasoline and car prices led to lower-than-expected growth in US retail sales in May. Retail sales rose 0.1% month-on-month in May, and April data was revised down to -0.2%.

Retail sales have been distorted in recent months due to Easter's early date. Nevertheless, the trend of slowing sales growth has emerged as rising prices and rates have forced households to prioritize necessities and cut back on discretionary spending.

As low-income borrowers increasingly have difficulty repaying their loans, banks are also tightening credit. Although the labor market remains strong, it is becoming increasingly difficult for job seekers to find new jobs quickly, and wage growth is slowing. Retail sales, excluding car, gasoline, building materials, and food services group, increased by 0.4%.

The market is closely watching the speeches of several Fed officials, including John Williams, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Susan Collins, president of the Boston Federal Reserve, and Tom Barkin, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve.

New York Federal Reserve President Williams said that the US economy is "moving in the right direction," but he refused to disclose when he would agree to interest rate cuts. Williams said:" Some very good signs show that supply and demand are trending towards balance. "

He also said that any decisions about relaxing policies by the Fed will depend on the quality of economic data. He expects US inflation rates to continue to decline this year.

Investors continue to monitor the development of the French political situation. Last week, due to concerns that French President Macron's unexpected decision to hold a parliamentary vote ahead of schedule will lead to a parliamentary dominated by the far right, French assets were heavily sold.

Lee Hardman, a senior foreign exchange strategist at MUFG, said: "After the trend of French government bonds last week, the market stabilized. (Extreme right-wing leader) Le Pen made some remarks, stating that she respects the system and will not cause chaos in the system. But our view of the overall situation has not changed. We believe that before the elections, the euro will continue to digest relatively high political risk premiums."

Mohit Kumar, a strategist at Jefferies, said: "The recent part of safe-haven actions was driven by concerns about 'Frexit' and the disintegration of the eurozone. In our view, these concerns have been exaggerated, and we will gradually eliminate these fear-driven initiatives. We remain bullish on high-risk assets, but given the upcoming French elections, we will be more inclined to be bullish on the United States."

Focus stocks

Growth tech sees mixed ups and downs, Qualcomm and Taiwan Semiconductor rise by nearly 3%, NVIDIA rises by more than 1%, and Tesla falls by more than 1%.

Most popular China concept stocks fell, with NetEase down more than 2%, PDD Holdings, Ctrip, and Li Auto Inc. down more than 1%.

The semiconductor sector is generally rising, with Qualcomm up nearly 4% and Taiwan Semiconductor up more than 3%.

$Micron Technology (MU.US)$Silver rose nearly 6%, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch listed the company as its number one recommended US stock.

$Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$Rising more than 3% and continuing to hit a historical new high with research reports from Goldman Sachs suggesting that after Taiwan Semiconductor raises its prices, the gross margin is expected to rise to 50-60%, and dividends will also grow strongly.

Edited by Jeffrey