Market Brief — July 8, 2026

US equity benchmarks were mixed, with DJIA down 1.09%, SPX down 0.28% and ^IXIC up 0.20%, as Brent crude rose about 5% to roughly $78 and U.S. WTI crude climbed to about $74 following renewed U.S.-Iran strikes, vessel attacks near the Strait of Hormuz and comments that the interim ceasefire 'is over'. European equities fell, with DAX down 2.23%, FRA40 down 2.18% and UKX down 1.66%, while Spain's IBEX 35 dropped 2.6% after President Trump told officials at the NATO summit to 'cut off all trade' with Spain. In Asia, 000001.SS ended flat (0.0%) as an MSCI EM Asia index fell over 2%, South Korea's KOSPI lost 5.35%, and India's Sensex and Nifty declined 2.15% and 2.12% respectively as higher Brent around $77.9-$79.0 and a 26% jump in India VIX to about 14.68 weighed on risk sentiment.

The FOMC left the federal funds rate unchanged at 3.50%-3.75%, but its Summary of Economic Projections tilted hawkish by raising the median 2026 rate path and stressing that inflation remains elevated versus the 2% goal, while the ECB recently lifted its deposit rate to 2.25%. US inflation and activity data were mixed, with May headline CPI at 4.2% year over year, core CPI around 2.9%, core PCE near 3.4%, Q1 real GDP rebounding to a 2.1% annualised pace, and June payrolls adding just 57,000 jobs as the unemployment rate fell to 4.2% on a roughly 720,000 drop in the labour force. Oil and rates markets reflected this backdrop and new supply shocks, as Brent and US WTI crude rose roughly 5%, the US Dollar Index (DXY) traded near 101.2, US10Y yields moved into the mid-4% range, gold around $4,100/oz softened, FX differentials kept USDJPY near 162 and EURUSD around 1.14, and US container imports rose 8.2% year over year to about 2.40 million TEUs in June as shippers front-loaded ahead of higher fuel-linked freight costs and tariff changes.

Renewed U.S.-Iran strikes, vessel attacks near the Strait of Hormuz and President Trump's claim that the U.S.-Iran interim ceasefire 'is over' drove Brent crude up about 5% to near $78 and US WTI crude to about $74 and pushed S&P 500 (SPX), Dow and Nasdaq futures down roughly 0.7%-1.6%. Indian and Spanish markets lagged, with the Sensex down 2.15% and Nifty down 2.12% as Brent around $77.9-$79.0 and a 26% jump in India VIX to about 14.68 hit risk sentiment, while Spain's IBEX 35 fell 2.6% and 10-year Bono yields rose 9 bps to 3.565% after President Trump told US officials to 'cut off all trade' with Spain. Apple (AAPL) and Broadcom (AVGO) announced a multiyear chip-supply deal expected to exceed $30 billion and support more than 15 billion US-made chips, HSBC closed its emerging-market equities overweight and upgraded eurozone equities to overweight as an EM Asia index fell over 2% and South Korea's KOSPI lost 5.35%, and UniCredit lifted its Commerzbank stake to 47.6%, equivalent to roughly 49.6%-49.7% of voting rights. Top Aces completed its acquisition of Select Global International, and Lupa Systems completed its acquisition of New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and Vox. NNS announced it will acquire shares in OCI, Nocera agreed to buy an equity interest in INERGX, and Exodigo agreed to acquire V&A, Inc. to expand engineering capabilities. AM Technical Solutions, Enverus, Paslay Group, VitalEdge Technologies and CyberNut each announced acquisitions to scale project delivery, subsurface data offerings, airport technology strategy, telematics for heavy equipment and K-12 student-safety solutions.