Chip Rally Sends Nasdaq 100 to First Record Since June as Iran Talks Pull Oil Lower

Bonds stabilized as equities gained, and Wall Street is preparing for a summit this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, giving the leaders of the world's two largest economies an opportunity to strengthen personal ties and seek common ground on contentious issues.

The record close rests on a narrow base rather than a broad advance: chipmakers' strength offset weakness in bank shares, and the accompanying drop in crude depends on diplomatic progress that has not yet produced an agreement. That leaves two conditions on the move. A deal that pulls crude further below the session's level would reinforce the cost relief already supporting sentiment; if the talks stall or the war's end slips past November, that support fades and the index would lean again on a semiconductor rally now in its sixth consecutive session. The Trump-Xi summit is a second, separate test of whether the diplomatic backdrop that helped equities can hold.