Weekly Market Movers — Key Highlights
  • Easing rate-hike fears boosted risk sentiment.
  • U.S. Dow Jones reached a record high.
  • Investors rotated out of technology stocks amid capex return concerns.
  • Hormuz shipping risks eased, helping cool crude oil prices and energy market concerns.

Global equity markets advanced this week, reflecting broad-based strength across major developed markets despite some late-week volatility in technology shares. Investor sentiment was supported by softer-than-expected U.S. employment data, which reinforced expectations for a more patient Federal Reserve and eased concerns over additional monetary tightening. U.S. equities delivered solid weekly gains, European markets moved higher, and Asian markets were generally resilient, while weakness in semiconductor stocks tempered gains in technology-heavy benchmarks. Investor sentiment was supported by improving risk appetite and expectations of a less restrictive interest-rate environment. 

In global geopolitics, the diplomatic discussions between U.S. and Iranian officials in Doha and risks surrounding shipping activity through the Strait of Hormuz overcame the risk-off sentiment from the previous week. The discussion on operational security in the Strait of Hormuz shipping corridor alleviated acute energy-supply fears and triggered a cooling trend in crude oil prices. India and Japan signed a major Memorandum of Cooperation focused on economic security, semiconductors, and AI. EU-China conducted trade discussions which could impact manufacturing and global supply chains. Intense wildfires in southern France following record-breaking summer heat waves, led to evacuations in the region.

Global Updates
  • The MSCI All Country World Index delivered overall gains, despite diversified performance across key sectors and regions. Global investor sentiment was heavily influenced by the cooling U.S. nonfarm payroll data, which deflated international interest rate hike fears, alongside a correction in technology stocks. While European equity markets advanced, driven by financial and healthcare gains. Asian equities were resilient despite correction over AI capital expenditure concerns. The rotation out of secular tech and into value-oriented cyclical sectors anchored broader equities globally.
  • Eurozone consumer price inflation dropped to 2.8% in June 2026, down from 3.2% in May.
  • The unemployment rate in the Eurozone was 6.2% in May, largely unchanged from April.
  • Vietnam’s economy grew 8.39% year-on-year in April–June, accelerating from the revised 7.94% first-quarter expansion.
  • China Resources New Energy’s shares surged almost threefold on their Shenzhen debut Thursday after the firm secured 24.5 billion yuan through Asia’s largest IPO this year.
  • Australia’s South32 agreed to sell most aluminum operations to Alcoa for up to $5.6 billion, sharpening its copper focus under new leadership strategy.
  • Hangzhou Qiandaohu Xunlong Sci-Tech shares jumped over 36% on Hong Kong debut after raising HK$1.2 billion, reinforcing confidence in China’s aquaculture industry worldwide growth.
  • Volvo Cars reported second-quarter sales of 171,501 vehicles, marking a 5.6% decline from the same period last year globally across its markets.
  • Saudi Aramco accelerated Asian oil sales, shipping 10 million barrels through Hormuz and boosting Ras Tanura exports after months-long disruptions recently ended.
  • Iranian authorities are organizing large-scale commemorations to display public support for the Islamic Republic following reports of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death next week.
  • Iran and the U.S. ended indirect Doha talks without major progress, concentrating on Hormuz shipping and frozen Iranian assets issues for now.
  • Kuwait’s crude output surged to 1.65 million bpd in June from 580,000 bpd in May, boosting Gulf exports after peace.
U.S. Equity
  • In the holiday-shortened trading week U.S. equity posted solid gains. The broad market benchmark indices rose over the week reflecting continued investor optimism. A weaker-than-expected employment data initially cooled interest rate hike anxieties and fueled broader market gains, which was however offset by a late-week sell-off in semiconductor stocks. A rally in blue-chip cyclicals that pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average index to a record high.
  • The ADP jobs report indicated a lower-than-expected growth of 98,000 jobs in private sector employment, primarily in the education and health services sector. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported the unemployment rate declining to 4.2% and the creation of 57,000 jobs by the U.S. economy in June. The lower-than-expected non-farm payroll numbers was attributed to a 0.3% decline in the country’s labor force participation rate.
  • U.S. manufacturing activity cooled in June as indicated by the ISM Manufacturing PMI reading of 53.3, missing estimates. The lower reading indicates moderating demand and a deceleration in overall industrial activity despite the sixth consecutive month of expansion.
  • SanDisk, CoreWeave and Micron shares declined this week following a severe semiconductor industry-wide sell-off due to intensifying market anxieties surrounding capital expenditure returns on artificial intelligence infrastructure. This disproportionately impacted flash memory and computing hardware manufacturers.
  • Tesla reported 3,953 vehicle deliveries over the second quarter that modestly exceeded consensus expectations. However, Tesla’s stock dragged as investors remained focused on broader concerns around slowing year-over-year sales growth, intensifying competition, and margin pressures.
  • Meta Platforms shares gained after the company outlined plans to expand its artificial intelligence strategy through the development of a proprietary cloud infrastructure business and provide AI computing capacity. The strategy is designed to monetize the Meta’s data center investments and diversify the company’s revenue.
  • Nike reported an earnings beat with $10.97 billion in revenue and an adjusted EPS of $0.20 in the financial fourth quarter, although results were supported by a one-time tariff refund. As a key bellwether for consumer spending, the results  provided an encouraging signal for consumer discretionary spending trends.
  • Nasdaq announced the decision to include SpaceX in its Nasdaq-100 index.
Fixed Income
  • The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index declined over the week. 
  • The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose sharply to 4.485% and the yield on the 2-year note rose to 4.137% over the week, following a reassessment of the Federal Reserve’s rate-cut trajectory based on the latest economic data.
  • The U.S. Dollar Index declined to 100.7 over the week.