NEW YORK MARKET CLOSE: Tech drifts lower after May inflation print

25. Jun 2026

(AWP Alliance News) - Shares ended mostly lower in New York on Thursday following a hot May inflation report, while oil prices ticked higher as investors focus on the state of strategic reserves.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 71.72 points, 0.1%, at 51,920.62. The S&P 500 fell 0.73 points to 7,357.49. The Nasdaq Composite ended down 118.03 points, 0.5%, at 25,358.60.

"The key challenge for policymakers continues to be the resilience of the US labour market. Employment remains close to full capacity, driving wage growth of around 3.4% and preventing core inflation from coming down more quickly. The Fed has already turned reasonably hawkish in the face of this, with the market anticipating one to two rate hikes by year end. Although lower energy prices should help bring headline inflation down over the coming months, policymakers are far more concerned with the underlying trend in core inflation. Until there are clearer signs of labour market weakness and easing wage pressures, the case for interest rate cuts is likely to remain some way off," Quilter analyst Lindsay James commented.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday said its core personal consumption expenditures price index rose 3.4% on-year in May, picking up speed from 3.3% in April, in line with consensus cited by FXStreet.

The core reading, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflationary gauge, excludes food and energy. The headline reading, which does not, picked up to 4.1% in May from 3.8% in April. That reading was also in line with consensus.

"The Fed under Kevin Warsh does not give forward guidance, so the future direction for US rates will be dependent on economic data. This gives extra importance to today's PCE data from the US," said XTB analyst Kathleen Brooks.

Separately, the BAE said US gross domestic product rose 2.1% on an annualised basis quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of the year. The rise was upwardly revised from 1.6% in the second estimate. The first estimate put growth at 2.0%.

GDP growth picked up from 0.5% in the fourth quarter.

Finally, the US Department of Labor on Thursday said seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 215,000 in the week ended June 20 from a revised 227,000 a week earlier.

The figure came below FXStreet-cited consensus of 225,000, with the previous week's figure revised up by 1,000 from 226,000.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury was flat at 4.40% late on Thursday. The 30-year yield held steady at 4.86%.

Against the dollar, the euro was at USD1.1374 on Thursday, up from USD1.1357 on Wednesday. Sterling rose to USD1.3198 from USD1.3162. Against the yen, the dollar was at JPY161.79, little changed from JPY161.80.

Micron shares surged 16% on Thursday following a blowout third quarter driven by the contained memory supply shortage.

Revenue of USD41.46 billion multiplied from USD9.30 billion for the same period last year, comfortably outstripping VA consensus of USD34.43 billion.

GAAP net income ballooned to USD28.24 billion in the third quarter of its financial year which ended May 28 from USD1.89 billion the year prior. Non-GAAP diluted EPS leapt to USD25.11 from USD1.91 on-year, beating Visible Alpha consensus of USD19.74.

Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra said the results reflect AI's "insatiable" appetite for memory bandwidth which has transformed the industry.

Apple on Thursday announced a series of price hikes on products including its MacBook, as rising memory prices threaten margins.

The price of MacBook Air will rise by USD200 to USD1,299, the MacBook Pro by USD300 to USD1,999, and the newly launched MacBook Neo by USD100 to USD699. Apple has increased the price of an iPad Air by USD150 to USD749 and of the iPad Pro by USD200 to USD1,199.

"Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable," outgoing Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal earlier this month.

He added that the iPhone maker has been "trying to shield customers from the increases" but that it had become "unsustainable".

Apple shed 6.2%.

Oracle dropped 3.3% after it said allegations of unsafe working conditions at its Abilene data centre lacked "context", noting that it had conducted an investigation into the facility.

Earlier on Thursday, Time Magazine published an article citing injuries, lawsuits, non-disclosure agreements and a general approach of "cutting corners", Time quoted a worker saying, at Oracle's Stargate data centre in Abilene, Texas, which is currently under construction.

The US Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that agrochemical firm Bayer may not be sued over the absence of cancer warnings on the packaging of its Roundup weedkiller, which contains the chemical glyphosate.

The top court held that federal law requires standardized labelling approved by the government, preventing individual states from imposing additional warning requirements.

Glyphosate has been deemed by the World Health Organization "probably carcinogenic to humans," although Bayer disputes the claim.

Bayer surged 19% in Frankfurt.

Israel said Thursday that it had set no timetable for withdrawing its forces from Lebanon, Gaza and Syria, as Israeli and Lebanese officials engaged in US-brokered talks in Washington.

"We've already been in this situation in 2024," Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said. "Hezbollah were supposed to be disarmed. They weren't."

Commenting on the negotiations, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the two neighbours were close to making a "commitment of intent".

A barrel of Brent was quoted at USD75.55 late Thursday, up from USD73.26 on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate rose to USD72.32 from USD70.01.

Continued progress in diplomatic efforts between the US and Iran has strengthened expectations that supply conditions will improve, Kudo.com analyst Konstantinos Chrysikos said.

But the physical market's tightness could support prices to some extent, with US crude inventories posting a ninth consecutive weekly decline, the analyst added.

Official US crude oil inventories fell by 6.1 million barrels for the week that ended June 19 to 412.1 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday.

Gold rose to USD4,036.10 an ounce late Thursday from USD3,983.17 on Wednesday.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed up 0.7%. The DAX 40 gained 1.0% in Frankfurt. The CAC 40 rose 0.6% in Paris.

In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.2%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 1.4%. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo climbed 4.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 ended down 0.7% in Sydney.

Friday's global economic calendar has the Michigan consumer sentiment index and US wholesale inventories.

By Aidan Lane, Alliance News reporter

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