NASDAQ 100 gains $3.5T in four days as tech stocks stage massive rally

The Nasdaq 100 just added $3.5 trillion in market capitalization over four trading days. To put that number in perspective, that’s roughly the entire GDP of Germany appearing on balance sheets between Friday and Tuesday. The index surged 9.3% from August 1 to August 5, marking its strongest four-day performance since April 2025. The catalyst was a wave of robust earnings reports from major technology firms that reminded Wall Street why it fell in love with AI stocks in the first place. What fueled the rally After an 11% pullback had pushed the Nasdaq 100 into technical correction territory, big tech showed up with numbers that made the selloff look like a buying opportunity in hindsight. Semiconductor stocks led the charge. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained more than 7% in a single trading session during the broader rally. Nvidia remains the main character in this story. Prediction markets placed 84% odds on Nvidia becoming the largest company by market capitalization by the end of August 2026. Why crypto investors should care The correlation between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 has been one of the defining features of digital asset markets over the past several years. When...