U.S. stocks opened higher Monday, July 6, in the first session after the July 4 holiday weekend, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing past 53,000 for the first time as semiconductor shares rebounded and oil prices slid. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% shortly after the opening bell, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.7%, and the Dow gained 105 points, or 0.2%, exceeding 53,000 for the first time. The gains built on a strong prior week and came against a busy backdrop: a soft June jobs report that has traders rethinking the Federal Reserve’s next move, falling crude as Middle East supply recovers, and President Donald Trump ringing the opening bell from the Oval Office to promote his new Trump Accounts program.

The clearest signal for households came from the labor market. The Labor Department reported last week that the U.S. economy added just 57,000 jobs in June, the fewest in four months and well below forecasts of about 110,000, with the unemployment rate at 4.2%. Under Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, the central bank has been weighing whether to raise interest rates again this year to hold down inflation, an unusual stance at a time when much of the world is cutting. The weak hiring number cooled those bets: futures now imply roughly a 50% chance of a September rate hike, down from about 66% before the report.

Politics shared the stage with the numbers. Trump rang the opening bell Monday at both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq from the Oval Office, using the moment to showcase Trump Accounts, which give children a $1,000 government seed contribution and have drawn more than 6 million family sign-ups. Overseas, Iran held the main procession of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral in Tehran, and the Russia-Ukraine war escalated ahead of a NATO summit this week, though neither rattled the early tone.

At the open, the Dow traded just above 53,000 after climbing nearly 2% last week. The S&P 500 sat near 7,520 and the Nasdaq Composite pushed higher on the back of chips. The technology sector led the way, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF up more than 2%.

Market movers

Chip equipment makers led the rally on fresh Wall Street calls. Lam Research sat at the top of the S&P 500, up more than 4%, after Morgan Stanley raised its price target, while Applied Materials and KLA Corporation each rose just under 4% on target hikes from the same firm. ASML Holding, the Dutch chip-gear giant, gained about 4% after Bernstein lifted its price target by more than 30% to $2,300.

Memory and testing names ran with them. Western Digital jumped about 10% and Teradyne climbed 8%, with Marvell Technology and Oracle also higher. In premarket trading, Universal Display gained 8% and Element Solutions rose 6.5%.

The day’s biggest surge came from a power-and-AI deal. TeraWulf jumped more than 16% after Anthropic signed a 20-year agreement to use its Kentucky data center, a roughly 400-megawatt project expected to generate more than $19 billion in revenue over the initial term, with first power slated for the second half of 2027. Comcast rose about 0.5% after its U.K.-based Sky agreed to buy rival ITV’s television business. SpaceX, which went public June 12, gained about 1% to $163.75 ahead of its addition to the Nasdaq-100 before Tuesday’s open.

Not everything rose. Icon PLC fell 6%, Loar Holdings dropped 3.5% and Honeywell declined 2% in premarket trading.

Commodities and volatility

Oil kept sliding, easing pressure at the pump. West Texas Intermediate traded near $68 a barrel, down on the day, while Brent held around $71.50. Prices are falling as commercial shipping recovers through the Strait of Hormuz and the prospect of more OPEC+ supply raises the risk of a glut. Gold stayed firm as a safe harbor, trading above $4,100 an ounce Monday, supported by the weak jobs data and lower oil. Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, hovered near 16, a calm reading that signals little stress in the market.

The day ahead

Trading is light on company news this Monday after the holiday, but the week fills up quickly. SpaceX officially joins the Nasdaq-100 before Tuesday’s open, the same day Samsung Electronics releases preliminary second-quarter earnings. Investors will also track the NATO summit and any signal from Fed officials on whether June’s soft hiring changes the rate debate. For now, the market’s message is steady: record highs on the Dow, a rebound in the chips that have driven this year’s gains, and cheaper oil taking some heat out of inflation worries.

JBizNews Desk | New York
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