NEW YORK, June 26, 2026, 11:02 (EDT)
- Dow struggled to gain, after early losses in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. NYSE:GS and Caterpillar Inc. NYSE:CAT knocked the index lower.
- Alphabet Inc. NASDAQ:GOOGL will join the Dow, taking Verizon Communications Inc. NYSE:VZ out of the index before trading opens Monday.
- Stocks steadied after a better consumer sentiment reading. Inflation expectations remained high.
Dow finishes the morning close to unchanged in Friday trading, as the index’s price-weighted math drew fresh attention. U.S. stocks are open for the regular NYSE session from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. NYSE’s 2026 holiday calendar does not include a closure for June 26.
Dow eked out a 13.89 point gain to 51,934.51 as of 10:35 a.m. EDT, up 0.03%. The index swung from 51,614.74 to 52,030.50 earlier. S&P 500 stayed flat and Nasdaq slipped 0.16%, WSJ market data showed.
Dow drops 303 points as Goldman Sachs, Caterpillar slumpAt 9:45 a.m., MarketWatch reported Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar were dragging the Dow down by 303 points. The move stood out on the price-weighted index, since higher-priced stocks like these often swing the average even if they don’t have the biggest market caps.
Why the Dow shift Monday stands out: S&P Dow Jones Indices, a unit of S&P Global Inc. NYSE:SPGI, said Alphabet is set to step in for Verizon before the open on June 29. Verizon made up just 0.5% of the Dow because of its lower stock price. The group said it will change the divisor to avoid a one-day shake in the index. Honeywell International Inc. NASDAQ:HON stays in the Dow after spinning off its aerospace business.
Dow’s tweak adds more future weight to a pricey mega-cap tech name, but there’s no automatic move in the index at the open. Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial Corp. NASDAQ:SIEB, called it a “blue-chip endorsement” of Alphabet’s AI push. Axios
Tech stocks dragged again. At 9:34 a.m., Reuters showed the Dow off 0.44%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.83%, Nasdaq lost 1.33%. Micron Technology Inc. NASDAQ:MU sank 6.2% after jumping over 15% the day before. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. NASDAQ:AMD and Nvidia Corp. NASDAQ:NVDA both moved lower. Apple Inc. NASDAQ:AAPL slipped following Thursday’s 6.1% drop, which came as iPad and MacBook prices rose. Peter Cardillo at Spartan Capital Securities said the pressure on tech pointed to “higher interest rates down the road.” At B. Riley Wealth, Art Hogan described the memory market as facing a “comparable supply shock.” Reuters
Consumers gave markets some lift in the morning. The University of Michigan’s final June sentiment index moved up to 49.5 after hitting 44.8 in May. Expectations rose 15% this month. “High prices are weighing down” household finances, survey director Joanne Hsu said. One-year inflation expectations slipped to 4.6% compared to 4.8% before. SCA ISR
Rates stayed put. The BEA reported Thursday that PCE inflation for May rose 4.1% over last year, with core PCE up 3.4%. Personal income, disposable income, and consumer spending each climbed 0.7%. The saving rate held at 3.0%.
Most economists in a Reuters poll expect the Fed to leave rates at 3.50% to 3.75% through year-end. Josh Hirt at Vanguard said “holding rather than hiking” was the appropriate move for now. Stephen Juneau, an economist at Bank of America Corp. NYSE:BAC, called the Fed’s June signals “a materially hawkish surprise.” Reuters
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