Stocks Weekly Recap
• S&P 500 -2.6%, Nasdaq -5%, Dow -0.5% — AVGO/Anthropic shock Iran risk erased solid PMI/JOLTS/NFP
• STOXX 50 -0.3% — on PMIs vs hot EU PPI, GDP miss & weak Retail
• Nikkei -3.6%, Hang Seng -3% — on tech rotation vs early Tencent/Tokyo Electron pumps
Markets tried to buy growth resilience and AI strength… until the AI shield cracked.
Early in the week, PMI/JOLTS strength, truce headlines and AI momentum kept risk alive.
By weekend the tape flipped from “soft landing” to “AI confidence shock.”
Monday opened green.
US ISM manufacturing beat while Europe/UK/DE/FR PMIs stayed solid, giving markets a global PMI relief rally despite renewed US-Iran strikes and oil ripping again.
Tech was still the shield: ORCL 10%, NVDA and MU both over 6%. S&P 500 0.26%, Nasdaq 0.59%, Dow 0.15%, STOXX 50 0.33%, Nikkei 1.64%, Hang Seng 0.53%.
Tuesday, selective risk-on trade.
US JOLTS beat hard, Europe pushed higher despite hot Core CPI, and Hong Kong ripped on Tencent 10%.
AVGO, MU and AAPL helped tech while Nvidia stayed mostly flat after Monday’s pump.
But commodities were already flashing warning signs as oil stayed bid. Nasdaq 0.93%, Dow 0.76%, STOXX 50 0.84%, Nikkei 0.58%, Hang Seng 2.93%.
Wednesday was the first real crack.
Trump warned the Hormuz blockade could last 3 months, crude jumped again, and markets started pricing prolonged Middle East conflict.
Macro was not terrible: ADP beat, factory orders beat, services data held up, and China RatingDog services beat hard.
But oil shock risk outweighed the macro support. S&P 500 -0.74%, Nasdaq -0.44%, Dow -1.13%, STOXX 50 -0.97%. Nikkei held 1.21% on Tokyo Electron/AI momentum, while Hang Seng dumped -2.41% as Chinese tech rotated lower.
Thursday brought a relief bounce.
Trump said he is “reluctant” to war, so oil dipped hard, helping the Dow and cyclicals recover.
Still, the labor picture softened. Unit Labor Costs came in below estimates, which helped reduce the cleanest stagflation panic, but semis were already messy.
AVGO crashed after earnings, AMD and Micron lagged, while NVDA and GOOGL held the AI narrative together. S&P 500 0.41%, Dow 1.59%, STOXX 50 1.18%, Nikkei 0.42%, Hang Seng -0.74%.
Friday broke the week.
US macro was not bad enough to justify the size of the selloff. NFP beat, private payrolls beat, credit beat, Canada jobs crushed, and US unemployment stayed at 4.3%.
Stocks traded the fear stack instead: Iran/Lebanon escalation and now AI confidence risk.
AI leadership cracked hard. NVDA fell -6.2%, AMD and QCOM dropped around -11%, Intel and Micron joined the selloff, META and TSLA fell roughly -6%, and Broadcom extended its post-earnings crash to over -20% in two days.
Anthropic’s global AI-freeze headline added another layer. S&P 500 -2.64%, Nasdaq -5.07%, Dow -1.74%, STOXX 50 -1.64%, Nikkei -5.9%, Hang Seng -3.18%.
Closing out the week:
S&P 500 finished -2.6%, Nasdaq collapsed -5%, and Dow slipped -0.5%. STOXX 50 held near-flat at -0.3%, but Europe still felt the pressure from hot PPI, weak retail and EU GDP miss. Asia cracked hard: Nikkei -3.6% and Hang Seng -3%, as tech rotation overwhelmed early Tencent/Tokyo Electron strength.
Though, macro did not fully break. Growth data was mixed but alive, and labor still held. The real break came from sentiment.
Once AI/semis stopped acting like the market’s shield, the whole risk-on trade started looking fragile.
Furthermore, stocks erased theirs longest weekly gain streak of this century.
Crypto also confirmed the risk-off tone.
BTC lost $62K, ETH dumped almost -10%, Open Interest fell while liquidations surged.
If AI stabilizes, markets can still frame this as a brutal tech reset.
But if semis keep breaking while geopolitics stays hot (as after recent US-Iran strikes), this starts looking less like rotation and more like a risk-off regime.
Was this indeed the first sign the market’s strongest pillar is finally cracking as stocks extend rotation?
Stocks Weekly Recap
• S&P 500 1.4%, Nasdaq 3%, Dow 0.9% — on 60d plan hopes, oil dip & cooler PCE vs weak GDP/Jobs/Housing
• STOXX 50 0.55% — on cooler DE/FR/ES CPI & EU/IT Conf vs hot FR/IT PPI & FR GDP miss
• Nikkei 4.7%, Hang Seng -1% — JP rallied on IP/Retail/Unemp beats; HK lagged on rare-earth/TW risk & CN FDI
Markets started pricing the 60-day US-Iran framework this week, but not without stress. Oil whipsawed on strikes, Hormuz headlines and unsigned deal terms, while cooler PCE and lower inflation prints helped risk sentiment. Japan stood out on strong domestic data, while Europe and Hong Kong lagged on growth/geopolitical pressure.
Monday closed for (US) Memorial Day.
Tuesday opened volatile as renewed US-Iran strikes and an oil rebound hit sentiment. CB Confidence and M2 beat, but hot BoJ CPI, weak CN FDI and Spanish PPI kept inflation/geopolitical risk alive. S&P 500 0.61%, Nasdaq 0.59%, Dow -0.94%, STOXX 50 -1.03%, Nikkei 0.37%.
Wednesday was more about stabilization than a full breakout. Oil dipped as traders repriced the fragile Qatar/US-Iran framework, but Trump denied sanctions relief and US ADP/MBA missed. Nasdaq 0.2%, Dow 0.37%, Nikkei -0.4%, Hang Seng -1.04%.
Thursday, solid US tech follow-through.
Cooler PCE gave the Fed breathing room, but weak GDP, jobless claims and housing kept growth concerns alive. Europe stayed red on hot FR/IT PPI, while Asia split as Nikkei rose and Hang Seng fell on rare-earth/Taiwan risk despite HK trade beat. S&P 500 0.58%, Nasdaq 0.83%, Nikkei 0.87%, STOXX 50 -0.39%, Hang Seng -0.67%.
Friday closed mixed but steadier. Improved US Trade, cooler DE/FR/ES CPI and stronger JP IP/Retail helped, while France/Canada GDP misses and unresolved Iran terms kept the rebound selective. S&P 500 0.22%, Dow 0.62%, Nikkei 0.79%, STOXX 50 -0.34%.
The Story of the Week:
Hopes around the leaked 60-day US-Iran framework (eg. Hormuz mine-clearing, no transit tolls, temporary oil waivers and frozen-asset negotiations) helped oil ease and supported US equities. Still, the deal remains unsigned, with uranium terms and Trump’s “no-money” clause keeping headline risk alive.
Meanwhile, inflation cooled in Europe and Japan, but growth signals weakened in the US, Canada and France. Markets remained highly volatile on every Hormuz and military headline.
US-Qatar/Iran plan to reopen Hormuz seems to be collapsing once again due to renewed military activity.
This setup might spike the first weekly stocks dump in multiple months.
Do you see markets climbing more despite escalating Middle East conflict?