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WALL STREET RISES AS TECH, CHIPS RALLY

Wall Street's main indexes are rallying early on Thursday with technology shares leading gains as optimism about a Middle East peace deal offset worries about a hawkish Federal Reserve under new Chair Kevin Warsh.

Meanwhile, the United States and Iran released the text of an interim agreement their presidents have signed to end the war. It extends the April ceasefire by another 60 days to allow the two sides to reach a final deal.

Intel's INTC.O shares are rising nearly 8% after U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple AAPL.O had agreed to work with the company to design and manufacture its chips in the United States.

A majority of S&P 500 sectors are higher with tech .SPLRCT, up almost 2%, posting the biggest rise. Energy .SPNY, down more than 2.5%, is the weakest group.

Under the surface, chips are especially strong. The PHLX Semiconductor Index .SOX is jumping more than 5%. Small caps .RUT, regional banks .KRX, transports .DJT and gold/silver miners .XAU are also among the outperformers.

Software & services .SPLRCIS are under pressure.

Chips, big banks .SPXBK and S&P 500 Industrials .SPLRCI are on pace for record closes.

And with markets closed Friday for the Juneteenth holiday, the main indexes are all on track for weekly gains.

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood around 9:46 a.m. ET.

(Terence Gabriel)

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