Sector Update: Tech Stocks Rise Late Afternoon

03:57 PM EDT, 09/18/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Tech stocks rose late Friday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) increasing 0.4% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) adding 0.7%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index advanced 1.6%. In sector news, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Friday to speed up independent oversight of AI companies and advance creation of an emergency "AI kill switch" for frontier models, his office said in a statement. In corporate news, OpenAI hired Brian McCarthy as its new global sales chief and added two veteran sales executives from Snowflake (SNOW), The Information reported. McCarthy previously worked at Space Exploration Technologies' (SPCX) Cursor unit, the report said. Snowflake shares fell 1.5%. Apple (AAPL) faces softer early demand for its new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max based on shorter wait times since preorders opened on Saturday, UBS Securities said in a note. Apple shares were down 0.2%. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin said Friday on X that the chamber asked Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google CEO Sundar Pichai and X's Elon Musk participate in its Oct. 5 hearing on potential risks posed by AI. Meta shares were down 2.5%, and Alphabet added 0.6%. SpaceX (SPCX) has secured a $946 million contract modification from NASA for three additional crew missions to the International Space Station, the agency said in a Friday statement. SpaceX shares were down 1.1%.