Tech and Dell lead broad rally as VIX slides

The S&P 500 rose 0.86%, with the Nasdaq-100 up 0.91% and the Dow gaining 0.98%. The Russell 2000 added 0.45%, while the VIX fell 11.2%, signaling reduced volatility expectations. Breadth was solidly positive, with 8,035 advancers outpacing 4,141 decliners.

Semis (+1.47%) and Technology (+1.38%) led sector gains, followed by Industrials (+1.06%). Health Care (-0.31%) and Utilities (-0.16%) lagged, though Energy stayed positive at +0.37%.

Hardware names dominated the gainer list: HPE jumped 12.5%, DELL rose 11.9%, and HPQ gained 8.4%, alongside chipmaker ON (+8.4%) and storage name NTAP (+8.1%). On the downside, FMC dropped 5.2%, ALB fell 3.6%, and storage peers STX (-3.5%) and WDC (-2.9%) also declined.

News flow was dominated by company-specific items, including a large insider share sale discl