Wall Street wrapped up a mixed session on Thursday, July 2, the final trading day before the Independence Day holiday shuts the market on Friday, July 3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 1.1%, adding nearly 600 points to close at a fresh record, while the S&P 500 ended largely flat. The Nasdaq Composite went the other way, sliding 0.8% as the sell-off in semiconductor stocks that started Wednesday spilled into Thursday.
The split showed up because of the rotation underway in the market, with investors pulling money out of tech and chip names and shifting it into industries seen as safer. That move was already visible on Wednesday, when the Dow closed at 52,305.24 after touching a new high earlier in the day, while weakness in tech stocks pushed the S&P 500 down 0.2% to 7,483.23.
Why chip stocks stayed under pressure
Semiconductor shares fell for a second straight day as investors worried that the enthusiasm around AI had lifted valuations too far. The pressure grew when word emerged that OpenAI was in talks to sell a 5% stake to the U.S. government, alongside Meta's plan to make money from its excess compute capacity. Micron, Applied Materials, AMD, SanDisk and Marvell all dropped sharply, while Tesla fell 7.5% despite strong deliveries.
Jobs data soured the mood
One of the biggest forces shaping Thursday's session was the June non-farm payrolls report, which landed well below expectations. Official data showed the US economy added just 57,000 jobs in June, far short of the 113,000 economists had forecast, while the unemployment rate came in at 4.2%, a touch better than the 4.3% that was expected. The softer-than-expected hiring figure snapped a three-month run of steady labour market readings and strengthened the case for the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates on hold for now.
"Finally, the Federal Reserve continues to maintain a data-dependent policy stance, with interest rate decisions expected to be driven by incoming economic data rather than advance guidance from policymakers," said Amit Gupta of Kedia Advisory.
Tesla and the chip names
Among the session's biggest movers was Tesla, whose shares slipped roughly 7% even though the EV maker comfortably topped second-quarter vehicle delivery estimates.
Semiconductor stocks stayed under strain for a second session and dragged the Nasdaq Composite lower even as the broader market traded in the green. SanDisk led the way down, tumbling 14%, followed by Marvell Technology, which sank 9.8%. Applied Materials slid 7.4%, while Micron Technology dropped 7% on worries about memory chip demand. Advanced Micro Devices also ended the Thursday session down 4.3%.
When trading resumes
With Thursday's session done, the US stock market is now shut for the Independence Day holiday. The NYSE and Nasdaq will remain closed on Friday, July 3, and return to normal trading on Monday, July 6. The US bond market, which closed early at 2:00 pm Eastern Time on Thursday, will also be closed on Friday and reopens Monday alongside equities.
