Market Brief — June 2, 2026

US equities were flat to slightly higher as the Dow (DJIA) rose 0.4%, the S&P 500 (SPX) added 0.1% and the Nasdaq (^IXIC) was essentially unchanged. In Europe, the CAC 40 (FRA40) gained about 0.8%, the FTSE 100 (UKX) climbed 0.3% and the DAX (DAX) rose 0.5% as euro-area CPI accelerated to 3.2% in May from 3.0%, reinforcing expectations for a June ECB rate hike. Asian trading was subdued, with the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) closing unchanged on volume of around 4.1 billion shares.

Sector leadership tilted defensive and rate-sensitive, with utilities XLU up 1.9%, technology VGT up 1.3%, and energy XLE and basic materials XLB each up about 1.2%, while communication services XLC fell 1.8% and healthcare XLV slipped 1.0%. Among US gainers, Legend Biotech LEGN jumped 42.22%, Marvell Technology MRVL surged 32.52%, Aehr Test Systems AEHR rose 20.70%, Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE advanced 19.47% and Penguin Solutions PENG added 18.32%, with several names trading well above 3-month average volume. On the downside, ABIVAX Société Anonyme ABVX dropped 44.10%, Celcuity CELC fell 25.65%, Praxis Precision Medicines PRAX slid 23.00%, Braiin BRAI lost 15.75% and Xometry XMTR declined 10.76%.

Euro-area headline CPI rose to 3.2% year-over-year in May 2026 from 3.0% in April, with energy up 10.9% and services inflation at 3.5%, and markets largely pricing a 25 basis-point ECB hike at the June 11 meeting. In the US, April JOLTs job openings increased to 7.6 million, a 731,000 gain that lifted the openings rate to 4.6% as hires fell to 5.1 million and separations to 5.0 million, while swaps markets assigned around 80%-90% probabilities of June hikes from the ECB and BOJ and CME FedWatch showed near-99% odds the Fed holds the 3.50%-3.75% funds rate. Brent crude traded near $94 and WTI around $91 after headline-driven swings linked to U.S.-Iran negotiations, while US 10-year Treasury yields pulled back to roughly 4.43%-4.45%, steering FX and commodity flows.

Abivax reported 44-week Phase 3 maintenance results showing obefazimod remission rates near 51% on 25 mg and 50 mg versus 10.4% on placebo, but malignancy events at the higher dose accompanied a 44.10% drop in ABVX. Marvell Technology MRVL jumped 32.52% after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called it the 'next trillion-dollar company' at Computex, with Reuters and CNBC citing gains of more than 25% and a market value near $234 billion. Valuation concerns also featured as analysts noted the S&P 500 (SPX) has climbed about 20% over nine weeks to 7,599.96 as of June 1 and now trades around 21.2 times forward earnings versus a 10-year average of 18.9, while the index gained only 0.1% today. Suntex Enterprises completed a $2.5 million acquisition of 100 acres, launching its flagship South Texas development initiative. Announced transactions spanned technology and real assets, including Level 6 buying a majority stake in AI automation firm Aprendio, industrial and retail property purchases by Brennan Investment Group and Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT, and software and IT deals such as Blend acquiring In516ht and Harness acquiring Codecov from Sentry. AMTD also reported the US$30 million purchase of Dao by Dorsett Hornsey Hotel and an agreement to acquire the historic Hornsey Town Hall for US$33 million.