Most Stocks Rise as Warsh Says Price Risks Fading | Closing Bell

The Closing Bell team opened coverage of the first trading day of July and the start of the second half of the year. Overall market performance was mixed: the S&P 500 finished down 0.2%, the Nasdaq composite down 0.6%, and the Dow Jones essentially flat. The Russell 2000 also declined slightly. On a sector basis, communication services and financials showed strength, while information technology, utilities, and industrials experienced weakness. Of 500 S&P companies, 299 traded higher while 204 traded lower.

The semiconductor sector was notably weak, with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index (SOX) down 6.2%. This decline was partially attributed to news that Apple is considering purchasing Chinese-made memory chips, a move that pressured Micron shares down 10% to session lows while Apple itself rose 1.5%. The potential for increased competition from Chinese chip makers added to negative sentiment in the sector.

Major gainers included Meta Platforms, which surged nearly 9% (up 11.5% at intraday highs) after Bloomberg reported the company is developing plans for a cloud infrastructure business to sell access to AI computing power and models, competing with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. This represents Meta's effort to justify massive spending on data center buildout by monetizing excess capacity. Microsoft also rebounded strongly, up 3% on its first trading day of July after suffering a 17% decline in June due to AI-related concerns. The company announced plans for thousands of layoffs while increasing AI spending.

Notable decliners included Coreweave, down 14%, as its core business of providing AI computing infrastructure faced direct competition from Meta's new initiative. Nvidia, Applied Materials, and a semiconductor ETF were also shorted by Michael Berry, the investor famous for betting against the 2008 housing market. Caterpillar fell 6.9% after Berry disclosed short positions. Walmart declined nearly 4% to its lowest close since November 2025, extending a six-day losing streak amid slowing quarter-over-quarter trends reported by Cleveland Research.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh spoke earlier in the day stating that price risks are fading, though this had minimal market impact as investors await the jobs report scheduled for Thursday. The transcript concludes with extended banter about Taylor Swift potentially getting married at Madison Square Garden on July 2nd or 3rd, with speculation about whether it's a wedding or a concert.