Under the hood, this was a narrow rally: only Energy and Technology posted meaningful gains while eight of the eleven S&P 500 sectors declined, and value and equal-weight strategies lagged, indicating the average stock actually traded lower. Worth noting for client conversations — index-level strength is masking soft participation.

Tech highlights

The story of the week was Meta. The stock gained nearly 15%, its best weekly performance since early 2024, after a Reuters-reviewed internal memo suggested Meta is building a custom silicon chip as part of an effort to add 14GW of compute capacity across 2026–2027 — implying dramatically lower cost-per-gigawatt than Street estimates. Meta also plans to begin manufacturing the custom AI chip in September and rolled out its Muse Spark 1.1 model, which its AI chief called its strongest agentic and coding model yet. CNBCYahoo Finance The other headline: SK Hynix priced a 17.79M-share ADR IPO at $149, raising $26.5 billion in the largest-ever U.S. market debut by a foreign company, and the shares opened at $170 Friday and traded up roughly 13%. Some traders worry the offering may compete for investor funds with U.S. memory names like Micron — relevant if you hold MU, which has already surged more than 200% in 2026. Semis remain jumpy: after gaining nearly 80% in the first half, the group sold off earlier when Samsung's record profit beat estimates but fell short of elevated AI expectations. Nvidia added about 4% Friday to help carry the S&P.

Fixed income: yields grind higher

Bonds traded lower as Treasury yields rose on the oil spike and the Fed's June minutes, with longer-dated bonds underperforming. The 10-year finished the week at 4.56% and the 2-year at 4.21%, up from roughly 4.47% and 4.11% respectively at Monday's open — call it a ~9–10 bp move across the curve. For bond ladder positioning, the backup offers modestly better reinvestment yields, though the driver (inflation risk) bears watching. Finsyn + 2 Fed & economic data

The June FOMC minutes released Wednesday were the week's main macro event. Policymakers unanimously held the funds rate at 3.50%–3.75%, viewed inflation as having moved higher and remaining well above the 2% objective, and cited tariffs, Middle East supply disruptions, and strong AI-driven investment demand as pressures. The committee was divided — many see the year-end rate at or slightly below current levels, while others believe additional firming could be warranted. Separately, the Fed announced leadership for five task forces spanning communications, balance sheet policy, data, productivity/jobs, and inflation — reinforcing that Chairman Warsh is pursuing meaningful institutional reform.

On the data front: the May trade deficit widened to $77.6 billion from a revised $54.6 billion, as exports fell 3.2% and imports rose 3.3%. Initial jobless claims fell 2,000 to 215,000, while existing home sales unexpectedly dropped to 4.09 million units in June.

Geopolitics & commodities

President Trump declared the ceasefire with Iran "over" while also indicating negotiations would continue, and despite the uncertainty, equities responded calmly — WTI touched roughly $76 mid-week and the 2-year hit its highest level since June 22. Crude finished the week around $71.61, up 4.6%, while gold slipped 0.4% to about $4,116.

The week ahead

June CPI and PPI arrive next week, and Q2 earnings season kicks off with the big banks — JPM, WFC, BAC, GS, C, BLK — plus GE, JNJ, UNH, and NFLX. Expectations are high: S&P 500 earnings are expected to grow 23% year-over-year, with technology projected to deliver the highest revenue growth of all sectors and 63% earnings growth — tech and energy together are expected to drive roughly 80% of total index earnings growth.

Leadership rotated notably away from technology. Semiconductors and megacap growth names (Tesla -6.4%, Meta -3.8% Thursday) weighed on the Nasdaq late in the week, while communication services, financials, health care, consumer staples, and utilities outperformed. Small caps lagged, with the Russell 2000 slipping back below the 3,000 level.

Index Performance for the Week

IndexWeekly ChangeThursday CloseS&P 500+1.8%~7,483Dow Jones Industrial Average+2.0%52,900.07 (record)Nasdaq Composite+2.1%~25,830Russell 2000~ -1.1%2,980.05

Material Economic Data

June Employment Report (Thursday): Nonfarm payrolls rose just 57,000, well below the ~115,000 consensus, and May was revised down to 129,000. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2%, though the decline was driven by a 0.3-point drop in labor force participation to 61.5%. Wage growth of 3.5% y/y matched expectations. Markets read the soft print constructively — cooler job growth reduces pressure on the more hawkish Fed officials who have floated additional rate hikes to combat inflation (CPI ran 4.2% y/y in May, the highest since 2023).

Initial Jobless Claims: 215,000 vs. 219,000 expected, down slightly from 216,000 — still consistent with a steady labor market.

Fed Policy: The FOMC held rates steady in June, but the committee remains split roughly evenly between members favoring one to two hikes this year and those favoring holding or cutting. Chair Kevin Warsh noted last week that "inflation risks have come down" as energy prices retreat.

Energy / Geopolitics: WTI crude fell to roughly $67.60 (-1.4% Thursday), extending its slide back below $70 — near pre-Iran-war levels — as U.S.–Iran negotiations progressed and tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz normalized. Falling crude is expected to pull pump prices lower over the next one to two months, a potential tailwind for consumers.

Other Notables

Microsoft announced a $2.5 billion investment to launch an AI deployment unit ("Microsoft Frontier Company") staffing ~6,000 employees. Rivian surged ~15% after raising 2026 delivery guidance to 65,000–70,000 vehicles. Bitcoin rose nearly 5% to ~$61,275 on easing inflation concerns. Gold was little changed near $4,079/oz. The U.S. bond market closed early Thursday; equity markets reopen Monday, July 6.

Looking Ahead

Investors return to a full trading week Monday with focus on whether the labor market's cooling trend keeps the Fed on hold, the path of oil and gasoline prices, and early Q3 positioning after the strongest quarter since 2020.

Sources: TheStreet, Edward Jones Weekly Market Wrap, J.P. Morgan Weekly Market Recap. For informational purposes only; not investment advice.