General News - June 7, 2026 at 12:01 AM

Top of Mind
Friday's 4.2% Nasdaq rout—worst since April 2025—was the real event. May's 172k payrolls print (double consensus) killed rate-cut hopes and repriced a 25bp hike into December. The selloff was concentrated in semis: Micron -13%, Broadcom -8%, Nvidia -6%. The VIX spiked from near-term lows as the "crash-up" in chip stocks reversed. This resets positioning for FOMC on June 16. S&P 500, NDX, SMH, TLT, VIX.

Catalyst Radar
FOMC meeting June 16-17; May CPI Wednesday; SpaceX IPO pricing next week; Apple WWDC Monday.

Analyst / Opinion Columns

• WSJ Heard on the Street: Macy's in Berkshire's portfolio is a value play on shrinking competition, cheap book value, and real estate floor. Not a Buffett retail revival thesis—Abel's bet on operator Tony Spring's store-level execution.

Markets

• Nasdaq -4.2%, S&P 500 -2.7%, DJIA -700pts. $1.2T erased from PHLX Semiconductor Index.
• 2yr yield surged to 4.16% (16-month high); 10yr to 4.537%. FedWatch shows >70% probability of a hike by Dec.
• WTI -2.7% to $90.54; Brent -2% to $93.09. Market pricing in eventual Iran deal despite Strait of Hormuz effectively closed.
• Bitcoin broke $60k intraday, lowest since Oct 2024. 16% weekly loss. BTC ETFs eked out $3.2M inflow after 13-day outflow streak.

Economy

• May payrolls +172k vs 80k consensus; prior two months revised up +93k. Unemployment steady at 4.3%.
• Average hourly earnings +3.4% YoY—slowest since Aug 2021, now trailing inflation (3.8% CPI). Real wages negative.
• Leisure/hospitality led (+70k); local govt +55k; federal govt hiring flat. Job openings jumped in April.
• ECB expected to hike 25bp Thursday—most aggressive G7 response to Iran energy shock so far.

Business/Finance

• Berkshire buying $10B of Alphabet stock via private placement to fund AI infra. Abel's first major capital allocation move. Also closed $6.8B Taylor Morrison acquisition.
• SpaceX IPO: targeting $1.75T valuation with $75B raise. Morgan Stanley sees revenue reaching $3.4T by 2040. Google committing $920M/mo for GPU compute housed at SpaceX/xAI data centers.
• JPMorgan, Citi, BofA plan tokenized deposit network launching H1 2027 through Clearing House—counter to stablecoin threat.
• Big banks reporting strong Q2: JPM sees IB revenue up 10-11%; Goldman M&A volume on track to break 2021 record.

World/Geopolitics

• Iran war approaching 100 days. Six ballistic missiles intercepted by US forces over Persian Gulf Friday. Ceasefire remains fragile.
• Iran threatens to close Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which would cut Saudi east-west pipeline flows to Asia. Oil flows through Bab el-Mandeb nearly doubled to 7.2M bpd in April.
• Israel-Lebanon ceasefire uncertain after Hezbollah rejected deal. Netanyahu insists on demilitarizing Lebanon.

Technology/AI

• Chip rout: Micron -13%, Super Micro -11%, Cisco/Nvidia both -6%. Fear that trillions in AI spend won't yield expected returns; Alphabet's $80B equity sale added dilution overhang.
• Nvidia entering PC market with new CPU+AI chips (Windows-based), challenging Intel's 64% CPU share. "Nvidia Inside" brand power is real—shares jumped 6% on the announcement.
• Anthropic and OpenAI racing to IPO; first-mover advantage matters—SpaceX gobbling capital. Cerebras +68% on day one last month suggests appetite exists.
• DoubleLine/Oaktree buying AI-linked debt that can survive a downturn. Hyperscalers sold >$155B unsecured bonds globally this year.

Standouts

• Second Texas screwworm case confirmed; Canada restricting livestock imports from affected areas. Potential feed cost shock for cattle producers.
• Marvell Technology and Flex to join S&P 500 on June 22, replacing Pool and Campbell's—further techification of the index.
• Raizen reaches $13B out-of-court debt restructuring agreement—Brazil's largest ever—converting 45% of debt to equity.