Weekly Market Commentary

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Week of Jun. 30 through Jul. 4, 2025

The S&P 500 index rose 1.7% this week to another record closing high as June jobs data came in above expectations.

The market benchmark ended Thursday's abbreviated session at 6,279.35, its highest closing level ever. This marked the end of the trading week as the US stock market closed several hours earlier than usual on Thursday and will remain closed on Friday for Independence Day.

The S&P 500 also recorded a fresh intraday high on Thursday at 6,284.65.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 locked in a 5% gain for June, marking its second consecutive monthly increase, which resulted in a nearly 11% Q2 jump for the index, wiping out Q1's 4.6% loss. The benchmark is now up almost 7% for the year.

Government data released Thursday showed the US economy added more jobs than projected in June while the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked down. Total nonfarm payrolls rose by 147,000 last month, surpassing Bloomberg's consensus estimate for a 106,000 increase. The unemployment rate moved down to 4.1% in June from 4.2%, compared with the Street's view for an increase to 4.3%.

Every sector except communication services rose this week. Materials had the largest percentage increase, climbing 3.7%, followed by gains of 2.4% each in technology and financials and a 2.1% rise in energy. Industrials, real estate, consumer staples and health care also logged gains of more than 1% each, while consumer discretionary and utilities also edged higher.

The materials sector's top gainers included shares of Packaging Corp. of America (PKG), which rose 6.8% as the company said it agreed to buy the containerboard business of industrial packaging products maker Greif (GEF) for $1.8 billion in cash.

In the technology sector, First Solar (FSLR) had the largest percentage gain, jumping 22% as RBC raised the price target on the shares to $200 each from $188. RBC said it believes President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" has "positive implications for near term and potentially long term demand" for First Solar. The firm kept its investment rating on the stock at outperform.

Communication services, the lone sector in the red, slipped 0.2%.

Shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) led the drop in communication services, falling 2% on the week. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company is reorganizing its artificial intelligence group with a focus on developing AI "superintelligence," referring to systems that can perform tasks as well as or better than humans, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing an internal memo.

Economic data next week will be on the lighter side but will include May consumer credit on Tuesday and the release of minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's May meeting on Wednesday.

Provided by MT Newswires.