The week in markets: July 6 to July 12, 2026. After a holiday-shortened prior week, the tape came back with a bang. The single loudest event was a listing, not an earnings report: South Korea's SK Hynix completed the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company, and its Nasdaq debut breathed fresh life into an artificial-intelligence chip trade that had wobbled through late June. Underneath the record, the June FOMC minutes exposed a committee split down the middle, oil pushed higher on renewed Strait of Hormuz risk, gold gave back ground, and crypto probed the top of its range. A reminder before we dig in: US stocks, gold and oil are closed over the weekend, so their last prints are Friday July 10 closes and the tape does not reopen until Monday July 13. Crypto trades around the clock, so those levels are live as of Sunday. Here is everything that mattered, and what to watch when trading resumes.
The Week's Scorecard
Equities ground higher into the weekend on a revived technology bid. The S&P 500 closed Friday at a record 7,575.39, up 0.42 percent on the day and roughly 1.3 percent on the week, its second straight winning week. The Nasdaq Composite finished near 26,281.61, also higher on the week, as the chip complex reawakened. Commodities split: WTI crude climbed about 3.5 percent to roughly 71.20 dollars as Middle East supply fears returned, while gold slipped about 1.5 percent to near 4,103 dollars after hawkish Fed minutes trimmed rate-cut hopes. In digital assets, Bitcoin held near 63,957 dollars after tagging 64,000 dollars on Friday, up roughly 2 to 3 percent on the week, and Ethereum firmed back above 1,800 dollars. It was a week where the AI hardware narrative, not the macro calendar, did the heavy lifting.
- The S&P 500 closed at a record 7,575.39, up about 1.3% on the week
- Nasdaq near 26,281.61, higher on the week as the chip trade revived
- WTI rose about 3.5% to ~$71.20 while gold slipped ~1.5% to ~$4,103
- Bitcoin held near $64K and Ethereum firmed above $1,800
Stocks: SK Hynix's Record Debut Revives the Chip Trade
The marquee event landed Friday. SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory-chip maker, completed the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company, pricing American depositary receipts at 149 dollars and raising about 26.5 billion dollars. The ADRs opened near 170 dollars and jumped roughly 12.8 percent above the offering price on debut, per Yahoo Finance. The proceeds are earmarked for new fabs and equipment, a direct bet on sustained AI-memory demand, and the listing itself became a referendum on the whole complex. Traders read the enthusiastic reception as validation that the high-bandwidth-memory cycle still has room to run.
The second engine was Meta. According to reporting reviewed during the week, Meta is building a custom silicon chip as part of a plan to add roughly 14 gigawatts of compute capacity across 2026 and 2027, a build that analysts flagged could sharply lower its cost per gigawatt versus prior estimates. Meta jumped about 6 percent on the session and nearly 15 percent on the week, its best weekly showing since early 2024. Crucially, unlike the late-June scare when a Meta cloud headline knocked the chipmakers, this time the read-through was constructive: Nvidia rose about 4 percent and supported the index rather than dragging it. The result was a broad, if selective, semiconductor recovery that carried both benchmarks to a winning week.
Not everything was AI. On the earnings front, WD-40 beat on both lines, posting 2.33 dollars per share against a 1.56-dollar estimate and lifting full-year guidance, a reminder that the unglamorous industrial names are still executing. But the week belonged to the chips, and the tape reflected it.
- SK Hynix raised ~$26.5B in the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company and popped ~12.8% on debut
- Meta jumped ~15% on the week on a 14GW custom-silicon compute build, its best week since early 2024
- Nvidia rose ~4%, supporting the S&P rather than dragging it this time
- WD-40 beat and raised guidance, a bright spot outside the AI trade
The Fed: June Minutes Expose a Split Committee
Wednesday delivered the macro highlight. The June FOMC minutes revealed a committee divided nine to eight on whether another rate hike is coming before year-end, with a lone participant projecting a cut. A few officials argued there was a case for raising rates outright, even as they backed the decision to hold, and the record showed growing concern over sticky inflation just as labor-market worries eased slightly, per Bloomberg. What made the transcript unusually load-bearing is that Chair Kevin Warsh declined to submit his own dot-plot projection, leaving the minutes as the committee's only on-record read on a possible September move, a dynamic CNBC framed as a policy "family fight" that could drag on.
The market response was clean. Rate-sensitive assets took the hawkish tilt poorly, with gold sliding toward 4,075 dollars intraday on Wednesday before steadying, and Bank of America trimmed its 2026 average gold forecast by 14 percent to 4,360 dollars an ounce, citing the more hawkish Fed backdrop. Equities, by contrast, shrugged it off, choosing to trade the AI story instead. With the fed funds rate held at 3.50 to 3.75 percent, the market now leans on the July 29 decision and the data in between to break the committee's tie.
- June minutes showed a 9-to-8 split on further hikes, with inflation concern rising
- Warsh withheld his own projection, leaving the minutes as the only on-record read
- Gold slid toward $4,075 intraday on Wednesday on the hawkish tilt
- Rates held at 3.50-3.75%; the July 29 decision is the next tie-breaker
Commodities: Oil Climbs on Hormuz Risk, Gold Slips on the Fed
Energy was the week's quiet mover. WTI crude settled around 71.20 dollars on Friday, up roughly 3.5 percent on the week, as renewed US-Iran tensions raised the prospect of disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for a large share of seaborne crude. The premium is a risk premium rather than a supply cut, so it can unwind quickly if the diplomatic temperature falls, but for now it kept a floor under prices. Gold walked the other way: after failing to hold higher ground, spot gold eased about 1.5 percent to near 4,103 dollars as the hawkish Fed minutes lifted real-rate expectations and blunted the safe-haven bid. The two commodities encapsulated the week's cross-currents, geopolitical risk on one side and a firmer rate outlook on the other.
- WTI rose ~3.5% to ~$71.20 on renewed Strait of Hormuz supply risk
- Gold slipped ~1.5% to ~$4,103 as hawkish Fed minutes lifted real-rate expectations
- The oil move is a risk premium that can unwind if tensions ease
- BofA cut its 2026 average gold forecast 14% to $4,360 an ounce
Crypto: Bitcoin Tests $64K as XRP ETFs Defy the Outflows
Digital assets spent the week converting June's bruising slump into a cautious recovery rather than a full risk-on sprint. Bitcoin touched 64,000 dollars on Friday and held near 63,957 dollars into the weekend, up roughly 2 to 3 percent from the prior Friday, while Ethereum firmed back above 1,800 dollars. The tone brightened early: US spot Bitcoin ETFs snapped a ten-day outflow streak, pulling in about 221.7 million dollars on Monday for their largest daily haul in two months, per Investing News. The caveat is that flows stayed choppy, and the shortened prior holiday week still netted outflows, so this looks more like a reset than a trend change. Sentiment gauges backed that up, with fear indicators still elevated even as prices climbed.
The structural bright spot was again XRP. XRP spot ETFs logged a ninth consecutive week of inflows, adding fresh capital even as Bitcoin and Ether funds saw net redemptions during the same stretch, per Cryptonews. It is the clearest sign yet that ETF demand is broadening beyond the two majors into the next tier of large-cap tokens. Adding a policy tailwind, the Trump administration continued to signal it is evaluating the structure for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a broader digital-asset stockpile, a narrative that kept a bid under the majors on quieter sessions.
- Bitcoin tested $64K and held near $63,957, up ~2-3% on the week
- US spot Bitcoin ETFs snapped a 10-day outflow streak with a ~$221.7M Monday haul
- XRP spot ETFs logged a ninth straight inflow week as demand broadened beyond the majors
- Strategic Bitcoin Reserve optimism kept a bid under the majors
The Week Ahead: What to Watch
The calendar heats up fast, with inflation and the first big bank earnings landing the same morning:
- Monday, July 13 - Markets reopen. US cash trading resumes, and any weekend Middle East headlines will meet the first real liquidity since Friday. Watch how the SK Hynix debut and the chip rebound trade on a full session.
- Tuesday, July 14 - June CPI. The last major inflation read before the July 29 FOMC decision. With the minutes showing rising inflation concern, this print is the single biggest tell for whether the hawks or the doves win the committee's tie.
- Tuesday, July 14 - Q2 bank earnings. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs open the second-quarter reporting cycle the same morning as CPI, the first hard look at how the consumer and capital markets fared.
- Through the week - Fed speakers and energy headlines. Any commentary that clarifies Warsh's stance, plus Strait of Hormuz developments, are the swing factors for rates, gold and oil.
- Markets reopen Monday July 13; watch how the chip rebound trades on a full session
- June CPI (July 14) is the last inflation read before the July 29 Fed decision
- JPMorgan and Goldman earnings (July 14) open Q2 reporting season alongside CPI
- Fed speakers and Hormuz headlines are the swing factors for rates, gold and oil
The week leaves markets with a record S&P, a revived chip trade anchored by the largest foreign listing in US history, and a Fed that just told the world it cannot agree with itself. The counterweights are a sticky-inflation warning that gold heard loud and clear and a Middle East risk premium sitting under oil. For the live schedule as trading resumes, see our economic calendar, and for the daily blow-by-blow follow our Market Insights coverage.
ThriveInMarkets publishes market commentary for general information only and does not provide personal investment advice. Prices are live or last-close levels as labeled and move quickly; levels cited are technical reference points, not instructions to buy or sell any asset.
