By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - Tech stocks boosted Wall Street as investors prepared to close the book on a month of losses for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, but the strongest quarterly percentage gains for all three major U.S. stock indexes in years.
I will go into more detail on today's market moves below. If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today.
1. U.S. Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship
2. U.S.
Supreme Court strikes down curbs on coordinated campaign spending
3. U.S. consumer confidence edges up in June, but job market perceptions sour
4. Britain says it could intervene in Paramount Skydance Corp's proposed takeover of Warner Bros Discovery
5. German inflation cooled June and core price growth held steady, easing concerns of war-related price pressures
6. ECB is considering doubling the proportion of cash lenders must keep in reserve
Today's Key Market Moves
• STOCKS: U.S. S&P 500, Nasdaq; Europe's STOXX 600 all notch biggest quarterly percentage gains in years, powered by AI strength
• SECTORS/SHARES: Chips lead, with SanDisk, AMD, Marvell and Intel up between 6.0% and 10.9%
• FX: Dollar pushes higher, yen slides to 40-year low
• BONDS: U.S. Treasury yields rise, but benchmark 10-year yield set for monthly drop
• COMMODITIES/METALS: Oil prices little changed but record steepest quarterly loss since 2020; Gold sees largest quarterly loss in 13 years
Today's Talking Points
* AI spending, earnings, Fed outlook primed to lead stocks in the second half of 2026
Stocks have had a good six-month run. But in order to keep the rally going, markets will face a gauntlet of tests, including the sustainability of AI spending, high earnings expectations and shifting interest rate outlooks under Kevin Warsh's chairmanship of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
* Uncertainty clouds path forward for U.S.-Iran peace talks as U.S. envoys arrive in Doha
U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha on Tuesday after airstrikes over the weekend tested the June 17 interim accord between the United States and Iran. No high-level meeting with Iran is on the docket, but technical issues, including matters of regional security, are on the table, issues that could be elevated to a senior level, according to Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
* Trump to announce exit from North American trade pact
President Trump is expected to announce on Wednesday that the United States will not extend the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, starting a decade-long clock to wind down the 32-year-old North American free trade zone as the three nations continue to hash out proposed changes.
The declaration will kick off a six-year review session, part of a "sunset clause" negotiated during Trump's first presidential term. However, it will do little to alter contentious negotiations over the pact's future.
What could move markets tomorrow?
• Developments in the Middle East
• Energy market moves
• Social media posts from Trump
• Potential yen intervention
• U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh participates in policy panel before the ECB Forum
• U.S. ISM PMI (June)
• U.S. Challenger layoffs (June)
• U.S. ADP National Employment Report (June)
• U.S. construction spending (May)
• Euro zone and UK PMI reports (June)
• Netherlands Q1 GDP
• Netherlands retail sales (May)
• Japan consumer confidence (June)
• UK house prices (June)
• Switzerland retail sales (May)
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Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
