Dow Closes At Record High As Weak Jobs Data Calm Rate Hike Fears, While Chipmakers Weigh On S&P 500, Nasdaq — WMT, META, GM, KR, QCOM In Focus

• The S&P 500 ended flat, while the Nasdaq 100 eased 1.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.1%.
• Anthropic PBC is in talks with Samsung Electronics Co. to become a manufacturing partner for a custom artificial-intelligence chip.
• Rate hike odds fell to 17.6% on Thursday, down from 28.9% a day ago, according to data from the CME FedWatch tool. 

U.S. stock indices ended mixed on Thursday but ended the week higher, with the Dow Jones index hitting record highs as weaker-than-expected jobs data calmed rate hike fears, while the S&P 500 ended flat and the Nasdaq slipped as investors continued to rotate out of semiconductors.

The S&P 500 ended flat, while the Nasdaq 100 eased 1.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.1%. The Russell 2000, which tracks stocks with small market capitalizations, slipped 0.6%. 

Among ETFs tracking benchmark indexes, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) fell 0.7% and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ended Thursday around 1.6% lower, falling for the second straight session, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) added 1%. 

Meanwhile, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) lost 4.5%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 5.4% signalling continued selling in semiconductor stocks, 

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for SPY, QQQ and DIA was ‘bullish’ with ‘normal’ to ‘high’ message volumes.

US Market Drivers

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nonfarm payrolls in June increased by a seasonally adjusted 57,000. Analysts expected an addition of 115,000 payrolls during the month, according to Dow Jones data cited by MarketWatch.

The BLS also trimmed its estimates for May by 43,000 and for April by 31,000, indicating that labor market growth was slower than initially estimated. The unemployment rate also came in below expectations, at 4.2%, compared to an expected 4.3%.

The weaker-than-expected jobs report also led to a decline in rate-hike odds. According to data from the CME FedWatch tool, the odds of a 25-basis-point rate hike fell to 17.6% on Thursday, down from 28.9% a day ago and 32.1% a week ago. 

“Just when investors thought they had the labor market figured out, the June jobs report threw them a curveball,” Bret Kenwell at eToro told Bloomberg. “A disappointing jobs report isn’t exactly good news, but it may give risk-on assets a silver lining: Less pressure on the Fed to take a hawkish stance.” 

Trending Stocks To Watch 

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): Advanced Micro Devices stock rallied sharply in the first half of the year, and the chipmaker just awarded a handsome stock payout to its chief executive, Lisa Su. 

CoreWeave (CRWV): The stock recorded its worst single-day fall in more than four months amid reports that Meta Platforms Inc. (META) is developing plans for a cloud computing business.

Lucid (LCID): The EV maker was in the limelight on Thursday after the EV maker announced a major leadership overhaul amid weaker-than-expected second-quarter vehicle deliveries.  

Amazon (AMZN):  The company deployed enough low-Earth orbit satellites to launch its commercial space-based internet service later this year. 

Tesla (TSLA): The electric-vehicle maker reported better-than-expected deliveries in the second quarter (Q2) amid strong performance in Europe and China.  

Read More: AMZN Stock Gains On Hitting Satellite Milestone to Launch Starlink Internet Rival This Year

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