Weekly Market Snapshot

Global equity markets declined sharply this week as mixed corporate news, spearheaded by Broadcom’s Q2 earnings miss and unchanged AI outlook, triggered a massive sell-off in high-flying semiconductor and mega-cap technology stocks. Simultaneously, early-week military escalations between the U.S. and Iran pushed Brent crude oil prices up, heightening global inflation anxieties and tightening financial conditions. Finally, a stronger-than-expected May jobs report fueled fears of prolonged high interest rates from central banks, accelerating a broad capital rotation out of valuation-sensitive tech indices into safer, defensive assets.

In global geopolitics, heightened geopolitical tensions centered on the Middle East conflict, with continued military exchanges involving Iran and regional actors raising concerns over broader escalation and global security stability. Intermittent ceasefire discussions and indications of renewed negotiations tempered immediate escalation risks but failed to establish a durable resolution. The representatives of Israel, U.S. and Lebanon negotiated a conditional ceasefire framework for truce in Lebanon, which was rejected by Hezbollah.

Weekly Market Movers — Key Highlights
  • Broadcom miss sparks semiconductor selloff
  • U.S.–Iran tensions push crude prices higher
  • Strong jobs data boosts hawkish outlook
  • Investors flee tech, move to defensives.
Global Updates
  • The MSCI All Country World Index declined this week as mixed corporate news, spearheaded by Broadcom’s Q2 earnings miss and unchanged AI outlook, triggered a massive sell-off in high-flying semiconductor and mega-cap technology stocks. Simultaneously, early-week military escalations between the U.S. and Iran pushed Brent crude oil prices up to $84.50 per barrel, heightening global inflation anxieties and tightening financial conditions. Finally, a stronger-than-expected May jobs report fueled fears of prolonged high interest rates from central banks, accelerating a broad capital rotation out of valuation-sensitive tech indices into safer, defensive assets.
  • European semiconductor stocks pulled back sharply as market momentum reversed, following conservative guidance from major U.S. chip design partners. This sudden shift triggered a global hardware pullback, impacting key players across Europe’s tech sector.
  • Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged past the 68,000 threshold for the first time, driven by an artificial intelligence and semiconductor equity rally despite regional macroeconomic headwinds
  • Eurostat reported a 0.2% contraction in the Eurozone economy in Q1 2026, driven primarily by a 12% decline in Ireland’s GDP, reflecting a sharp 25% fall in pharmaceutical exports from Ireland to the U.S.
  • Statistics Canada reported a gain of 87,800 jobs in the Canadian Economy in May, alongside a decline in the unemployment rate to 6.6%.
  • Statistics Canada reported a 0.1% contraction in Canada’s Q1 GDP, following a 1% annualized decline in Q4. This was accompanied by a 1.5% increase in consumer spending, a 0.4% decline in final domestic demand, an 8% drop in residential investment, and a 3% reduction in business capital expenditure over the quarter.
  • SoftBank became Japan’s largest company by market capitalization after its share price rallied, following an agreement to invest in AI computing clusters in France.
  • China’s Services Purchasing Managers’ Index increased to 54.5 in May from 52.6 in April.
  • The S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI rose marginally to 47.7 in May 2026 from the five-year low of 47.6 recorded in April.
  • Early-week military escalations between the U.S. and Iran drove Brent crude oil prices up by 3.2% to $84.50 per barrel, driving global inflation expectations higher and triggering a sharp sell-off in international stock markets. Energy prices rapidly reversed later in the week as successful Middle East diplomatic talks and concrete ceasefire signals eased global supply risks, immediately stabilizing international equities and supporting broader risk assets.
U.S. Equity
  • U.S. equity markets experienced diverged performance this week with the Dow Jones Index crossing the 51,500 mark, reversing an initial decline earlier in the week. The Dow Jones rose after investors aggressively rotated capital away from technology names and into stable, cyclical blue-chip equities like healthcare and financials. However, the broader market indices, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices declined over the week, due to a sharp sell-off in semiconductor and AI infrastructure equities, spearheaded by Broadcom’s disappointing quarterly outlook. Adding to the pressure on high-growth tech, a better-than-expected May jobs report fueled hawkish interest rate fears, dragging down the more valuation-sensitive, tech-weighted indices while leaving the defensive Dow relatively resilient.
  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a stabilization in the labor market with U.S. employers adding 80,000 nonfarm payroll positions in May and the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.3%.
  • ISM Services PMI for May printed at 54.5 with strong new orders, confirming continued expansion in services activity while employment components remained contractionary.
  • The United States has proposed a sweeping new wave of global tariffs targeting 60 economies following the conclusion of a U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) investigation into forced labor import enforcement. This includes a 12.5% tariff imposed on 48 economies accused of major enforcement gaps, prominently including India and China. Additionally, a 10.0% tariff on 12 nations deemed to have partial restrictions or ongoing compliance frameworks, including Canada, Pakistan, Mexico, and the European Union
  • NVIDIA unveiled its next-generation Vera Rubin data center architecture and the consumer-focused RTX Spark Superchip at Computex 2026 to power advanced AI agents. These cutting-edge hardware and software ecosystem announcements a short-lived stock market rally.
  • Broadcom’s Q2 total revenue of $22.19 billion narrowly missed the heightened LSEG Wall Street expectation of $22.27 billion, causing its stock to plummet. Investor disappointment intensified after the company left its massive $100 billion long-term AI chip sales target unchanged, prompting a sharp capital flight out of high-beta semiconductor.
  • Lululemon Athletica shares dragged after the company downwardly revised its full-year 2026 revenue projections to $11 billion–$11.15 billion and cut its expected earnings per share down to $10.95–$11.15. Management attributed this lowered forecast to severe operational headwinds, driven by rising import tariff costs and persistent consumer softness in its core North American market.
  • SpaceX filed an SEC registration for a monumental public listing which is projected to reach a record-breaking $1.75 trillion valuation, completely reshaping the capital pipeline for the global space economy.
  • Alphabet successfully priced and upsized its record-breaking equity offering to $84.75 billion this week, backed by a $10 billion private placement anchor investment from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Fixed Income
  • The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index was in line over the week.
  • The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield edged up to 4.577% and the yield on the 2-year note edged lower to 049% over the week.
  • The U.S. Dollar Index rose slightly to 99.22 over the week, due to safe haven flows as global currency markets adapted to higher-for-longer macroeconomic indicators.