US equities kicked off the post-holiday week with a solid rally on July 6, as the S&P 500 climbed roughly 0.7% and the NASDAQ Composite gained approximately 1.1%. The session marked the first full trading day after markets closed for the July 3-4 Independence Day holiday.

Tech continues to do the heavy lifting

The NASDAQ’s outperformance over the S&P 500 tells a familiar story. Growth and technology stocks remain the primary engine of this market, with semiconductor names continuing to benefit from the AI infrastructure buildout. Both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ have recorded multiple all-time high closes throughout 2026, powered by a combination of strong corporate earnings in the tech sector and persistent AI-related capital expenditure.

The crypto correlation factor

Bitcoin has exhibited a notably positive correlation with both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ throughout the 2025-2026 period, with correlation coefficients reaching as high as 0.88 during certain trading windows. When the S&P 500 pops 0.7% and the NASDAQ gains 1.1% on a post-holiday Monday, crypto traders should be paying close attention, as digital assets have repeatedly shown sensitivity to exactly this kind of broad equity momentum.

No specific crypto tokens or protocols were cited in the primary market reporting around the July 6 close. The conversation about equity-crypto correlation tends to happen in reverse: crypto media watches stocks, but stock market coverage rarely acknowledges the feedback loop.

What this means for investors

A portfolio holding both NASDAQ-heavy equity positions and Bitcoin is less hedged than it appears on paper, as the 0.88 correlation coefficient means both sides of that portfolio are likely to move simultaneously in any significant drawdown.

The S&P 500’s multiple record closes in 2026 have created a market priced for continued expansion. Any disruption to that expectation, whether from inflation data, earnings misses, or geopolitical shocks, could trigger correlated selling across stocks and crypto alike.