Stock Market News Today September 22 - Nasdaq, S&P 500 Rise, SanDisk, Meta, Microsoft

Wall Street is trying to extend one of its strongest rallies in weeks.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq edged higher Tuesday morning after Monday’s surge, keeping both indexes close to record territory. That gives another lift to the broad index funds sitting inside millions of retirement and investment accounts.

But the bigger story is underneath the indexes. SanDisk is surging again, Meta’s AI rally is holding, and Microsoft is drawing fresh analyst optimism.

Here’s the stock market news worth knowing today.

Nasdaq and S&P 500 Rise Again: Can the Rally Keep Going?

The S&P 500 opened 0.2% higher and the Nasdaq gained 0.3% Tuesday after both posted their best session in nearly two months Monday.

Lower oil prices and Treasury yields are easing some pressure on stocks, while AI enthusiasm is pulling money back into technology.

With markets already near records, the key question is whether more companies can join the advance. A broader rally would give index funds more support than another surge driven by only a handful of giant stocks.

SanDisk Jumps Again: Why Wall Street Sees More Upside

SanDisk rose more than 6% Tuesday after Rosenblatt started coverage with a Buy rating and a $2,400 price target.

The remarkable part is that the stock is already up more than 600% this year.

AI is changing how Wall Street values memory. As models handle more data, high-capacity storage is becoming more important inside data centres, turning technology once treated like a commodity into a critical part of the AI buildout.

Meta’s 11% Rally Holds as Muse Takes Off

Meta shares edged higher Tuesday after jumping more than 11% Monday.

Its Muse AI agent reached 2.8 million downloads in the U.S. and Canada within 12 days, encouraging analysts to consider whether Meta has found a new business rather than another expensive AI project.

If Muse becomes useful for shopping, travel, email and everyday online tasks, Meta has a direct route to billions of existing users across its platforms.

Microsoft Slips, but Wall Street Sees a Bigger AI Opportunity

Microsoft traded slightly lower Tuesday, even as Oppenheimer raised its price target to $570 from $515.

The firm pointed to Azure, Microsoft 365 and AI as growth drivers.

That matters because Microsoft does not need people to adopt an entirely new service. Putting Copilot and other AI tools inside Word, Excel and workplace software could turn products millions already use into a much larger source of AI revenue.

The AI Rally Is Moving Beyond the Obvious Winners

SanDisk is a reminder of how quickly markets can reprice a company once an overlooked piece of technology becomes essential.

By the time that shift looks obvious, much of the move can already be behind it.

That is why we created The $5 Trillion Signal, revealing five technologies we believe could attract trillions over the next decade and the signals that may show where capital is moving next.

Get your free copy of The $5 Trillion Signal below.