Market Brief — July 2, 2026

US equities were mixed as investors digested soft June payrolls and shifting Fed expectations, with the Dow (DJIA) up 1.1%, the S&P 500 (SPX) effectively flat at 0.0%, and the Nasdaq (^IXIC) down 0.8%. European markets tracked higher as softer US jobs data curbed near-term Fed hike bets, lifting the FTSE 100 (UKX) 1.7%, the CAC 40 (FRA40) 1.7%, and the DAX (DAX) 2.2%. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) finished the session unchanged at 0.0%.

US labor data undershot expectations, with June Nonfarm Payrolls rising by 57,000 versus forecasts around 110,000 and a prior 172,000, the unemployment rate at 4.2%, average hourly earnings at 3.5% year-on-year, and ADP private payrolls up 98,000, denting dollar strength and testing the Fed's hawkish tilt. The federal funds rate remains at 3.50%–3.75% after the March decision, and Chair Warsh in Sintra stressed price stability, declined to give forward guidance, and signalled gradual balance-sheet moves, reinforcing a data-dependent stance. In markets, the US Dollar Index DXY hovered near 101.40 with USDJPY around 162.53 and EURUSD near 1.138, spot gold firmed to about $4,043 per ounce, global crude eased to roughly $67–68 per barrel as Middle East risk premia unwound, and BoE policymaker Catherine Mann said she would support future hikes if inflation expectations fail to improve.

Tesla (TSLA) fell roughly 7% after reporting record Q2 deliveries of 480,126 vehicles versus production of 451,758 units, while also deploying 13.5 GWh of energy storage products. Lucid (LCID) dropped about 7.9% to $6.11 as it named a new CFO and overhauled its leadership team, alongside Q2 production of 4,774 vehicles and 3,953 deliveries, and Ford (F) said US Q2 sales declined about 10% to 549,200 vehicles and pure EV sales fell 40.7% year-on-year even as June retail share edged up to 12.3%. Marico guided consolidated Q1 revenue growth in the low-20% range and flagged strong operating-profit expansion as copra prices fell, helping its shares hit an all-time high, while in the UK the FTSE 100 (UKX) jumped 1.7% to 10,652.87 and the STOXX 600 rose 1.4% to a record as softer US payrolls of 57,000 and a 4.2% unemployment rate curbed near-term Fed hike bets and left the US 10-year Treasury yield around 4.46%. Cemtrex completed its acquisition of Plant Engineering Services, IperionX closed its strategic Camden acquisition of ultra-high-grade critical mineral assets, Kraken Robotics closed its purchase of Covelya Group, and Akamai completed the acquisition of secure enterprise browser provider LayerX. Announced transactions included Hagerty's agreement to acquire Bennetts, NNS's plan to acquire shares in OCI, Trilogy Laboratories' acquisition of YNS Cosmeceuticals, Edge226's purchase of AnyClip, Zoom's agreement to acquire Common Room, and Radnostix's acquisition of Lucerno Dynamics assets.