The Closer
Published
Markets closed the week leaning on policy intervention rather than economic data. The S&P 500 finished up 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite set a fresh record, with traders choosing to price in the G7's coordinated diesel and crude release and the Navy's reopening of the Strait of Hormuz over a nonfarm payrolls report that came in at just 29,000 versus 90,000 expected, alongside unemployment rising to 4.2% and two months of downward revisions totaling 60,000 jobs. The reaction underscores how much the energy story has come to dominate sentiment: IEA's Birol said the G7 announcement alone had already knocked at least $5 off oil prices, and WTI settled at $91.11, down 1.9%, even after a UKMTO report of a tanker hit by a projectile briefly pushed Brent back above $102.
The Fed remains split on what to do with that backdrop. Logan argued inflation isn't on track toward 2% and left the door open to more hikes, Goolsbee said progress has stalled and is moving the wrong way, while Barkin, Collins and Schmid endorsed the September move to 3.75%-4% without committing to anything further. White House adviser Hassett dismissed the weak jobs print as "about expected" and attributed rising yields to a "robust economy," a framing markets did not appear to fully buy given the scale of the revisions.
Underneath the index gains, dispersion was the real story. Technology rose 1.0% but split sharply: HP Enterprise, SolarEdge and NetApp each gained more than 5%, Nvidia hit its first record high since May, while Seagate and Western Digital each fell more than 10% and Accenture dropped 5.8%. Nike slid to its lowest level since 2013 after missing revenue estimates and guiding fiscal 2027 revenue lower, even as Tesla jumped 4.7% on deliveries of 486,532 vehicles beating the 463,761 consensus.
In deal news, ON Semiconductor's revised $5.70 billion acquisition of Synaptics cleared FTC approval, and ESCO Technologies closed its roughly $2.3 billion purchase of Megger Group from TBG AG, funded with $922 million in cash and 5.10 million ESCO shares plus a new $1.5 billion credit facility used to borrow about $1.0 billion at closing. TBG AG gains a board seat at ESCO as part of the arrangement.