S&P 500 Hits 7,631 at Midday as Nasdaq Leads the Charge

As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on September 17, 2026.

MIDDAY
U.S. Markets
  • S&P 500+1.04%
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average+0.42%
  • Nasdaq Composite+1.45%

Tech is doing the heavy lifting at midday: the Nasdaq's 1.45% gain is more than triple the Dow's, and the S&P 500 has cleared 7,600 on its back. Anyone underweight growth is watching this leg of the rally from the sidelines.

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The S&P 500 is up just over 1% by midday, but the gains are not distributed evenly across the major averages.

The Nasdaq Composite is the clear standout, rising 1.45%, meaning technology and growth stocks are doing most of the work while value-heavy and industrial names in the Dow lag.

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For investors with portfolios tilted toward traditional sectors, this kind of divergence is a direct cost. When growth leads by a margin that wide, underweighting tech translates into visible underperformance against the broad index, at least on a day like today.

The index has been grinding toward session highs into the midday hour, the strongest point of the day so far.