Tug-of-War. Software and semiconductor stocks ripped the major U.S. indexes in two different directions on Wednesday. Chips won this time, and dragged the indexes down with them.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7%. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 14 points, or essentially flat.
A majority of S&P 500 stocks actually rose, but a who's who of high-flying chip stocks weighed on the market; the iShares Semiconductor ETF sank 6.4%. The chip dip is likely due to a Bloomberg report that Meta Platforms may sell its excess computing capacity. The selloff is a sign that Wall Street is worried there will be more compute capacity than demand, writes Mizuho's Daniel O'Regan, although he took pains to put the downturn in perspective.
"Despite the carnage, it feels quiet compared to the craziness of last week and the rest of June as people do work on what this actually means, " writes O'Regan. "No signs of panic selling or broad de-risking."
Software stocks, on the other hand, broadly got a boost from an upbeat Guggenheim analyst note. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF, which has struggled this year due to concerns that artificial intelligence firms will cut into traditional enterprise software businesses, rose 2%.
The end result is that the S&P 500 didn't move much. With markets closed on Friday in observance of Independence Day, Wall Street might be ready to settle into the long weekend.
That is, as long as tomorrow's June nonfarm payrolls report arrives without any major surprises.
The Hot Stock: AppLovin +9.6% The Biggest Loser: Corning -13.6%
Best Sector: Communication Services +2.6% Worst Sector: Technology -1.8%
Grilled By Inflation
Get ready for some grocery store sticker shock.
A Fourth of July cookout will cost 9.4% more this year than it did last year, my colleague Molly Bordoff reports for Barron's , citing numbers from Datasembly, a company that collects prices for retailers. It now takes around $73.82 to feed a party of 10, or $7.38 per person, according to American Farm Bureau Federation estimates. Molly writes:
The jump in beef prices -- ground beef and all-beef wieners -- is more than 17% higher year over year. Buns and condiments are in the double digits, too. Barbecue sauce, for example, is up 13%.
But don't think it stops at the meat counter. Tomatoes and lettuce have climbed 32% and 24.9% year over year, respectively, according to the Consumer Price Index.
The Iran war is a main culprit.
"It impacts the price of oil, the price of fertilizer," says David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University.
The conflict has driven up farming and transportation expenses, especially for perishables that require greater energy inputs.
You can read the full report on Fourth of July BBQ price spikes here.
The Calendar
The BLS releases the jobs report for June tomorrow. Economists forecast a 113,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls after a 172,000 gain in May. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.3%. The labor market is on solid footing after looking wobbly last year. Job growth has averaged 114,000 a month so far this year, compared with just 10,000 a month last year.
-- Dan Lam
What We're Reading Today
-- U.S. Doesn't Renew USMCA Trade Pact in Current Form. What That Means for
Canada, Mexico.
-- AOL's New Parent Flies Out of the Gate in Its Trading Debut
-- SpaceX Threat Wipes Out $46B in Market Value From 'Big Three' Telecoms --
And the Pain May Not Be Over
-- Michael Burry Is Shorting the Dow's Hottest AI Stock
-- Memory Prices Rose Again, but Micron Stock Is Slumping Hard
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 01, 2026 19:55 ET (23:55 GMT)
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