NEW YORK, July 2, 2026, 14:16 EDT
- Semiconductor ETFs dropped. iShares Semiconductor ETF NASDAQ:SOXX fell 7.0% and VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) was off 5.8% around 2 p.m. ET. Price-times-volume for both hit about $11.6 billion by then.
- ETFs in health care, financials, staples and utilities moved up. SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY), Invesco QQQ Trust NASDAQ:QQQ and iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM) traded lower.
- U.S. payrolls climbed by 57,000 in June while the jobless rate was 4.2%. NYSE and Nasdaq will be closed on July 3 for the Independence Day holiday.
Investors rotated money out of AI hardware plays and into defensive stock funds Thursday. The Dow ended about flat, but the Nasdaq showed more pain beneath the surface. Same-day ETF fund-flow numbers were not out. ETF.com says the data usually arrives the following day, and there’s no way to see flows intraday.
The live tape proxy—price times volume—pointed to selling in chip and tech funds. Healthcare, staples, utilities and banks drew buyers.
| Live ETF prices as of 14:00 ET | Google Finance ticker | Move | Approx. value traded |
|---|---|---|---|
| iShares Semiconductor ETF | NASDAQ:SOXX | -7.0% | $5.2 bln |
| VanEck Semiconductor ETF | NASDAQ:SMH | -5.8% | $6.4 bln |
| Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | NYSEARCA:XLK | -3.5% | $1.5 bln |
| Invesco QQQ Trust | NASDAQ:QQQ | -2.4% | $23.7 bln |
| Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund | NYSEARCA:XLV | +2.0% | $1.4 bln |
| Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund | NYSEARCA:XLP | +1.6% | $0.7 bln |
| Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund | NYSEARCA:XLU | +1.5% | $0.6 bln |
| Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | NYSEARCA:XLF | +0.9% | $1.3 bln |
Prices and volume shown are as of about 18:00 UTC. Percentage changes are from the previous close.
But here’s the strange thing: the nearest ETF flow data had fresh cash coming into chips. ETF.com put NASDAQ:SMH at the top for creations on June 30, pulling in $1.01 billion. Meanwhile, NYSEARCA:SPY lost $8.0 billion and NASDAQ:QQQ saw $3.8 billion out.
| Last ETF flow, June 30 | Google Finance ticker | Net flow |
|---|---|---|
| VanEck Semiconductor ETF | NASDAQ:SMH | +$1.01 bln |
| iShares Russell 2000 ETF | NYSEARCA:IWM | +$0.84 bln |
| Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund | NYSEARCA:XLI | +$0.53 bln |
| iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | NASDAQ:TLT | +$0.31 bln |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | NYSEARCA:SPY | -$7.97 bln |
| Invesco QQQ Trust | NASDAQ:QQQ | -$3.77 bln |
| SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust | NYSEARCA:DIA | -$1.38 bln |
| U.S. equity ETFs, all segments | — | -$11.01 bln |
Why it matters: Thursday’s drop cut into one of the last trades with live ETF creations. That’s not the same as just a regular index slide. The selling focused on a tight AI group, not the wider market.
Jobs data set things off. The Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls were up 57,000 in June, with the unemployment rate at 4.2% and labor force participation down to 61.5%. April and May payroll numbers got revised down by a total of 74,000. Bureau of Labor Statistics Reuters said economists had looked for a 110,000 rise, and after the numbers, odds for at least one Fed rate hike this year dropped to 76% from around 84% ahead of the data.
“It says that the job market is doing fine,” said Florian Ielpo, head of macro at Lombard Odier Investment Managers. Bret Kenwell, a U.S. investment analyst at eToro, also said the report “doesn’t scream labor-market trouble.” Reuters
Not everything tied to rates caught a bid. NYSEARCA:IWM dropped 1.4% and NYSEARCA:SPY slipped 0.7%. NYSEARCA:DIA managed a 0.3% gain. That suggests buyers stayed defensive, skipping a full move into small-caps.
Tesla Inc NASDAQ:TSLA shares dropped 7.8% near 2 p.m. ET, even as Q2 deliveries came in at 480,126 vehicles, well ahead of Visible Alpha’s 402,776 consensus. “Big money is still waiting” to see if Tesla can actually execute on AI, robotaxi and self-driving plans, said David Wagner, head of equity at Tesla investor Aptus Capital Advisors. Reuters
Meta Platforms Inc NASDAQ:META fell 4.6% in live trading as the AI capex play took a hit. Reuters, citing Bloomberg, reported Wednesday that Meta is building a cloud business to sell its extra AI computing power. The story knocked neocloud names CoreWeave Inc NASDAQ:CRWV and Nebius Group NASDAQ:NBIS. Gil Luria, managing director at D.A. Davidson, said the pressure was “more likely to be on neoclouds than the big hyperscalers.” Reuters
Nvidia Corp NASDAQ:NVDA dropped 2.4% near 2 p.m. ET, with price-times-volume turnover coming in around $15.3 billion. The move put AI hardware stocks like Nvidia on the same side of the tape as the ETF unwind.
Traders pushed into hedges. Gold jumped over 2% after the payrolls numbers, as the U.S. dollar index dropped. “Less likelihood of potential rate hikes later this year,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures, citing the payrolls miss. Reuters
Oil prices dropped. Brent slid to $70.54, WTI hit $67.66. Traders cited less concern about supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz following U.S.-Iran talks in Doha. “The Iran situation is getting better,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group. Reuters
Stocks traded as usual Thursday. The NYSE’s main hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. Both NYSE and Nasdaq say they’ll be closed Friday, July 3, for Independence Day observed.
