Thursday, 19 June, 2026: US equity markets rallied sharply ahead of the holiday long weekend

US equity markets rallied sharply ahead of the holiday long weekend, underpinned by fresh gains for semiconductor stocks and as investors shrugged off concerns around rising interest rates following the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting  – Dow added +72-points or +0.14%, with Caterpillar Inc (up +3.13%) the leading performer in the 30-stock index. International Business Machines (IBM) Corp lost -5.05%. Salesforce Inc fell -2.09% to extend the client relationship management software company’s losing streak into a 13th consecutive session.