1. Closing out H1
Friday caps a banner first half on Wall Street, with two of the three major averages set to post sizable six-month gains. The S&P 500 is up 14.5% for 2023 through Thursday’s close, and the Nasdaq Composite has risen nearly 30%. That first-half performance of the Nasdaq would be the strongest for the index since 1983 (I know, I know. You’re thinking, what about the Dow? It’s up, too, but just 2.94%. Let’s move on.) Six of 11 sectors are positive year to date, led by tech stocks, which are up 39.5% and on pace for their best first half since 1995. Communication services stocks are up 34.3%, and consumer discretionary is up 30.5%. Utilities mark the worst-performing sector, down 8.28% so far this year. Follow live market updates from the last trading day of H1.
2. Final decision day
The Supreme Court ends its term Friday, with the fate of President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan left to be decided. Borrowers have been eager to hear whether the program, which would cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of Americans, will be allowed to stand. The highest court is weighing two challenges, one brought by six GOP-led states and another from the Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative advocacy organization. On Thursday, the majority-conservative Supreme Court struck down affirmative action admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, deeming the practice unconstitutional.
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3. Hold on to your homes
It's a holder's housing market. With the 30-year fixed mortgage rate back above 7% as of Thursday, homeowners have little incentive to sell, which is squeezing inventories. New listings were down 29% in the last week of June from the same period a year earlier, according to Realtor.com. In the last week, the number of homes for sale fell below year-ago inventory levels for the first time in more than a year. The dearth of inventory is fueling bidding wars and propping up prices. "The lack of housing inventory continues to prevent housing demand from being fully realized," said the National Association of Realtors' chief economist, Lawrence Yun.
4. $3T watch
Apple stock is nearing the sky-high benchmark of a $3 trillion market cap, based on currently available share data. It briefly hit that level in January, but fell back below the threshold before the market close. In order to seal that market value at the end of trading, the stock needs to close at a per-share price of $190.74 (technically $190.7341, rounded to the next penny). That’s an increase of less than 1% from Thursday’s close of $189.59 per share, and the stock has already surpassed $191 per share in premarket trading Friday. The iPhone maker became the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market value back in August 2018 and surpassed $2 trillion on an intraday basis two years later, in August 2020.
5. Box-office blues
Indiana Jones hits theaters on Friday, and the box-office buzz is looking a little meager. Harrison Ford leads the fifth and likely final installation of the Disney Lucasfilm franchise, promising audiences a nostalgic, star-studded and high-stakes adventure (and a familiar score from longtime franchise composer John Williams.) That, plus a $300 million production budget, has all the makings of a blockbuster. But box-office analysts predict the film will capture just $60 million to $65 million during its first three days in theaters and around $90 million for the five-day July Fourth holiday weekend. The humdrum expectations follow weak responses to “The Flash,” “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” and Disney’s own “Elemental” earlier this month.
— CNBC’s Sara Salinas wrote this newsletter. Christopher Hayes, Annie Nova, Dan Mangan, Diana Olick and Sarah Whitten contributed.
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