The chip selloff nobody saw coming 🔎

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 21:32:00 +0000

TOGETHER WITH

Hey there, andris!

Welcome back to the Saturday edition of Market Munchies.

A lot happened this week. Oil dropped sharply as the Strait of Hormuz reopened to more traffic and US-Iran talks progressed. The dollar reached its highest level in over a year. May inflation came in at 4.1% — a three-year high — keeping the Fed's next move very much in play. And a global chip stock selloff rattled the Nasdaq midweek, with South Korea's market briefly halted as semiconductor shares collapsed.

Keir Starmer resigned as UK prime minister. Micron delivered strong AI-driven earnings. Bitcoin continued its slide.

Here's what mattered this week, and what to watch next.

— Dan

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Week in Review

Oil lost its Hormuz premium

Progress toward a US-Iran peace deal sent tanker traffic surging through the Strait of Hormuz and pushed WTI toward a 10% weekly decline — even as a cargo ship struck by a projectile off Oman mid-week briefly revived security fears and reminded markets that the corridor isn't fully normalized yet.

Britain's political transition is underway

Keir Starmer announced his resignation as Labour leader June 22, saying he will remain as prime minister until a new leader is chosen, with nominations opening July 9 — making Andy Burnham, who won a by-election specifically to trigger the leadership contest, the overwhelming frontrunner to inherit Downing Street.

The dollar hit a 13-month high on two fronts

The dollar index reached its strongest level since May 2025 mid-week, driven by both a broad tech-led equity selloff pushing investors into safe-haven assets and building expectations that the Fed could hike rates before year-end — a combination that tightens financial conditions globally even when stock headlines are elsewhere.

Inflation kept the Fed question open

May PCE rose 4.1% year-over-year, its highest reading since April 2023, with core inflation at 3.4% — slightly above forecasts — keeping pressure on a Fed that already signaled a possible hike, while falling oil prices raised hopes that June's data could mark the peak of the current inflation surge.

The tech selloff put the AI rally on trial

The Nasdaq fell 2.2% on June 23 as investors took profits across tech and semiconductor stocks, snapping a long AI-driven run and raising the question of whether the rally was pricing in too much too fast — with rate hike odds climbing and the dollar strengthening, the conditions that fueled growth stocks this year are quietly getting tighter.

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Market Movers

Strategy (MSTR): $82.31 26.8% on the week

Strategy was the week’s clearest risk-off casualty as Bitcoin’s slide below $60,000 put fresh pressure on the company’s crypto-treasury model.

Onsemi (ON): $90.34 25.7% on the week

Onsemi got punished after announcing a $7 billion all-stock Synaptics deal, with investors reading the physical-AI pivot as expensive, complicated, and badly timed.

Seagate (STX): $899.90 15.9% on the week

Seagate gave back a major chunk of its AI-storage rally as investors rotated out of crowded memory winners, even though the long-term data-center demand story stayed intact.

Qualcomm (QCOM): $191.21 15.4% on the week

Qualcomm’s Meta-backed AI data-center pitch was not enough to save the stock, showing how little patience investors have for AI pivots before revenue becomes visible.

Micron (MU): $1,142.32 0.7% on the week

Micron still finished higher after blowout earnings, but Friday’s reversal turned the week’s hottest AI-memory winner into a warning that higher chip prices can cut both ways.

MAIN COURSE

Your Portfolio Is Red. Now What?

A rough week has a way of making every investor feel like they need to act fast. But the move that hurts most beginners isn't a bad stock pick. It's a panicked decision on a bad Saturday. In today's deep dive, we give you a simple checklist for reviewing your portfolio without making an expensive mistake.

READ THE ARTICLE

Next Week's Menu

All Week: Jobs, Oil, and Rate-Hike Watch

Markets enter a holiday-shortened week with labor data back at the center of the rate conversation, and the stakes are higher than usual — with markets now pricing roughly a one-in-three chance of a Fed hike at the July meeting, a strong jobs number could tip that equation.

Tuesday, June 30: JOLTS and Consumer Confidence

May job openings and June consumer confidence will show whether hiring demand and household sentiment are cooling in tandem — a still-tight labor market keeps pressure on the Fed, while soft confidence would raise questions about how long consumers can keep carrying growth even as real wages trail inflation.

Tuesday, June 30: Nike Earnings

Nike reports Q4 fiscal 2026 results after the close, with investors watching whether the turnaround under CEO Elliott Hill is gaining traction — North America trends, China revenue strategy, tariff drag on margins, and the competitive threat from younger challengers are all on the scorecard.

Wednesday, July 1: ADP, ISM Manufacturing, and Eurozone CPI

Wednesday brings a busy macro slate before the marquee jobs report, with ADP private payrolls, ISM manufacturing, and eurozone inflation all landing on the same morning — together, they'll give investors the clearest pre-holiday read on whether growth is firm enough to support earnings without giving central banks more ammunition to stay restrictive.

Thursday, July 2: June Jobs Report

The BLS releases the June Employment Situation a day early, on Thursday at 8:30 a.m., because U.S. markets are closed Friday for Independence Day. After May's 172,000-job gain more than doubled Wall Street's forecast, another surprise beat would likely push rate-hike expectations sharply higher heading into the July FOMC meeting — while a softer print could give stocks and bonds room to breathe into the long weekend.

WRAP-UP

And that's the week.

Two stories that didn't get enough attention: Apple quietly raised prices on MacBooks and iPads, blaming a memory shortage driven by AI data center demand. And OpenAI told advisors it may wait until 2027 to go public, unwilling to price below $1 trillion after watching SpaceX's stock lose a fifth of its value since its debut. The irony of AI demand simultaneously inflating chip costs and deflating IPO appetite wasn't lost on markets.

Thursday is the June jobs report — out a day early because of Independence Day. After May's blowout, the number will either validate the Fed's caution or give it cover to hold a while longer.

Stay sharp.

— Dan

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Andris Veliks - The chip selloff nobody saw coming 🔎

The chip selloff nobody saw coming 🔎

Week in Review

Infrastructure for the Data Explosion

Market Movers