Thursday, July 2, 2026

Wall Street delivered a mixed close on Thursday ahead of the holiday weekend, driven by a cooling June jobs report that eased Federal Reserve rate hike pressures. Nonfarm payrolls added just 57,000 jobs—well below the 100,000 to 115,000 expected—and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2% primarily due to 750,000 workers exiting the labor force. Falling Treasury yields helped the Dow Jones hit a record high, climbing +1.14% to 52,900.07, while the S&P 500 finished perfectly flat at +0.00% (7,483.24) and the VIX declined -2.65% to 16.15. Conversely, the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped -0.80% to 25,832.672 and the Russell 2000 dropped -0.55% to 2,996.11.

Sectors in focus: Investors aggressively rotated out of tech and into pro-cyclical and defensive plays. Semiconductors & Related Devices tumbled -7.45%, dragging down adjacent industries like Printed Circuit Boards (-8.84%) and Computer Storage Devices (-8.32%) as AI hardware stocks extended a sharp sell-off. On the upside, General Medical & Surgical Hospitals led the market, jumping +5.22%. Gold and Silver Ores climbed +3.79%, tracking a +1.33% rise in Gold to 4,136.6. WTI Crude settled lower by -0.10% to 68.51 amid reports of U.S.-Iran de-escalation progress. In corporate news, Rivian defied broader tech weakness, surging 13% to 15% after raising its 2026 delivery guidance.

On the radar:

• Jul 03: U.S. markets closed in observance of Independence Day.
• Jul 06: A quiet return to trading expected with no major economic releases.
• Jul 07: Earnings from Penguin Solutions (PENG).
• Jul 09: Earnings from PepsiCo (PEP), Progressive (PGR), and Cintas (CTAS).
• Jul 10: Earnings from Delta Air Lines (DAL).
• Jul 14: The critical June Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which will further test the cooling inflation narrative.