Apple's Foldable iPhone Saves the S&P 500 From a Chip-Fueled Rout
Key Points
Apple surged 4% on reports of expanded foldable iPhone production, adding $182 billion in market cap and offsetting broad tech weakness.
The June jobs report missed expectations with just 57,000 new positions, though the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%.
Semiconductor stocks extended their selloff, with Micron down 5.8% and the chip sector posting back-to-back losses after a record first half.
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Wall Street was torn between opposite catalysts on Thursday morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) climbed 0.7% by 12:11 p.m. ET. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) dropped 0.2% at the same time, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) fell 0.8%.
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The culprit behind the confusion: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is going one way while nearly everything else in tech is going the other.
^IXIC data by YCharts
Employment miss meets Middle East stalemate
The iPhone maker jumped 4%, adding $182 billion in market capitalization. The company reportedly told its parts suppliers to prepare for a large-scale rollout of foldable iPhones this fall. The expected foldable unit count for 2026 is now 10 million, up from 7 to 8 million in earlier forecasts. That's alongside roughly 70 million iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max handsets, setting Apple up for a blockbuster sales push.
Without Apple's contribution, the S&P 500 would have had a much worse day.
Eight of the 10 largest market cap moves on that index today were printed in red ink, including a 7.4% price drop for Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and a 5.8% retreat in Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) prices.
Tesla's June vehicle deliveries came in 18% above analyst estimates, but some investors are locking in profits after a 13% bull run over the last four market days. Micron is also trading near all-time highs, and memory chipmakers are facing a price-fixing lawsuit regarding older memory types.
These moves also weighed on the Nasdaq Composite, but neither Tesla nor Micron is a component of the Dow.
Image source: Getty Images.
The June jobs report landed with a thud: 57,000 new positions versus the 110,000 economists expected. May's numbers were revised down, too. Yet the unemployment rate fell to 4.2% from 4.3%, a contradiction explained by fewer people actively looking for work. Treasury yields declined on expectations that the soft data would reduce pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Over in the Strait of Hormuz, the vessel backlog dropped to 380 ships from 485 earlier this week, but only five ships actually passed through in the last 24 hours. U.S. and Iranian negotiators wrapped up talks in Doha claiming "positive progress," though concrete results remain elusive. The next round of discussions will follow funeral processions for Iran's late Supreme Leader, scheduled to end on July 9.
Oil prices keep falling anyway, apparently more interested in diplomatic optimism than shipping data.
Gold and Bitcoin both rallied for the second straight day, showing an unusual market shift into different types of safe-haven investments.
The SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEMKT: GLD) fund rose 2.1% while the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ: IBIT) gained 2.6%. When investors buy both the traditional haven and the newfangled digital one at the same time, it sends broad uncertainty signals for the market as a whole.
A long weekend to reassess
Markets are closed on Friday for Independence Day, so everyone gets a long weekend to plan for what's ahead. As usual, the economy is sending mixed messages and the best move may very well be to do nothing.
The chip sector's two-day decline follows an 82% first-half gain; some pullback was inevitable, though the speed of the correction is surprising.
The Dow beating the Nasdaq by 1.5 percentage points reflects the rotation theme that's defined this year's market. Money is shifting from high-flying growth names into steadier sectors like financials and industrials. Sometimes boring outperforms exciting, at least for a few days.
Enjoy the holiday, and I'll see you again next week!
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Anders Bylund has positions in Micron Technology and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Micron Technology, Tesla, and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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