Today’s Market Recap: Disappointing Non-Farm Payrolls Fuel Gold Surge, AI Chip Stocks Slump, SanDisk Drops Over 14%

Tracking Market Trends

TradingKey - On July 2, Eastern Time, U.S. stocks diverged in the final trading session before the Independence Day holiday. June non-farm payrolls data came in significantly weaker than expected, easing market concerns over near-term rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average sharply higher to touch a new record high. However, the AI and semiconductor sectors continued to face profit-taking, dragging the Nasdaq Composite Index lower, which indicates that the market remains cautious amid high tech valuations and shifting interest rate expectations.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.14% to 52,905.28 points; the S&P 500 Index was virtually flat, closing at 7,483.25 points; and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.8% to 25,832.67 points.

In terms of sectors and individual stocks, chipmaker stocks remained the biggest drag of the day. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed down 5.44%, with AI and memory-related stocks continuing their correction. Nvidia ( NVDA) fell 1.39%, AMD ( AMD) fell 4.26%, Micron Technology ( MU) fell 5.49%, Intel ( INTC) fell 5.25%, Marvell Technology ( MRVL) fell 9.84%, SanDisk ( SNDK) fell 14.13%. Following the previous massive rally in AI chip trades, capital continued to lock in profits, reflecting rising market divergence over the return cycle of AI capital expenditure.

In the commodities market, oil prices rebounded slightly ahead of the U.S. holiday. Brent crude rose to $71.57, while WTI ( USOIL) crude rose to $68.45. Although indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran in Doha showed some progress, a long-term agreement has not yet been reached, and the market maintains a certain risk premium regarding supply security in the Strait of Hormuz. However, with shipping gradually recovering, overall oil prices remain within their recent low range.

In precious metals, gold ( XAUUSD) surged over 2%, closing above $4,100 at $4,123.5. After the U.S. employment data cooled significantly, the market dialed back bets on near-term rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, easing pressure on the dollar and Treasury yields and providing support for gold.

Market Headlines

U.S. non-farm payrolls for June fell significantly short of expectations. According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor, non-farm payrolls increased by only 57,000 in June, lower than the market expectation of approximately 110,000; the May payroll addition was also revised down to 129,000. The unemployment rate remained at 4.2%. This set of data indicates that the U.S. labor market is cooling down, prompting the market to subsequently scale back bets on near-term rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, with the probability of a rate hike in July falling below 20% and expectations for a September hike also receding.

Tesla ( TSLA) second-quarter delivery data significantly beat expectations. The company delivered 480,100 vehicles in the second quarter, hitting a record high and coming in visibly higher than Wall Street expectations. A recovery in the European market, rising demand for corporate fleet electrification, and the refreshed Model Y drove the improvement in sales. However, Tesla's stock price still fell significantly, primarily because the market had already traded the delivery rebound expectation in advance, while investors remain focused on U.S. EV subsidies, price competition, and whether investments in Robotaxi and AI businesses can translate into profit growth.

Anthropic's in-house AI chip plan becomes a focus of the AI industry chain. According to reports, Anthropic is assessing the feasibility of designing its own AI chips to cope with computing power supply pressures driven by the rapid growth in AI model training and inference demands. Currently, the plan is still in its early stages; the company has not yet assembled a dedicated chip team, nor has it finalized whether to proceed with the in-house design.

OpenAI reportedly proposes offering a 5% stake to the U.S. government. Reports indicate that OpenAI is discussing offering a minority stake to the U.S. government in response to Washington's concerns over AI technology safety, job impacts, and the distribution of economic benefits. If this arrangement goes through, it would mean the U.S. government could participate in the benefit distribution of key AI companies through equity ownership, which could also serve as an important signal for future AI regulation and industrial policy. This news has further drawn market attention to AI industry valuations, the IPO process, and the changing relationship between Big Tech and the government.

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