US stocks open in the green: S&P breaches 7,000, Nasdaq climbs 0.7%

Market Performance - US equities advanced, with the S&P 500 reaching the 7,000 level for the first time, rising 0.3% and hitting an intraday high of 7,002.28, marking a significant milestone after years of gains driven by technology and AI-related stocks [1] - The index has more than doubled from its pandemic-era lows, supported by strong corporate earnings, aggressive AI investment, and supportive monetary policy [2] - The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7%, indicating renewed strength in growth-oriented stocks, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was relatively unchanged, up just 24 points [2] AI-Driven Earnings - Gains were bolstered by earnings reports linked to the AI boom, with ASML shares rising about 1% after reporting record orders and strong guidance for 2026, citing sustained demand for advanced chipmaking tools due to global AI investment [3] - Seagate Technology's shares surged over 13% after exceeding earnings and revenue expectations, with the CEO highlighting robust demand for data storage driven by AI workloads, indicating AI investment's impact on the semiconductor and hardware supply chain [4] Semiconductor Market Developments - Chinese authorities approved companies like ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to purchase Nvidia's H200 AI chips, leading to a roughly 2% rise in Nvidia shares and gains for other chipmakers such as Advanced Micro Devices and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing [5] - This approval alleviated some investor concerns regarding Nvidia's access to the Chinese market, which has faced uncertainty due to export controls and regulatory restrictions [6]