Intel cratered today while Meta went nuclear — that's the whole story of Thursday, July 2nd.

Intel cratered today while Meta went nuclear — that's the whole story of Thursday, July 2nd.

Intel down 9%. That's not a dip, that's a verdict. AMD followed it down 6.9% — guilt by association, or shared execution risk. Chips had a rough Thursday.

Meta up 8.81%, sitting at $612.91. Whatever they said, the market believed it. Salesforce up 4.19% — quiet mover, real money. Netflix up 3.91%, Microsoft up 3.02%. Software held up while hardware got dismantled.

Walmart down 3.92% at $108.82. Consumer staples taking heat signals something defensive is cracking. Oracle down 2.76% — not catastrophic, but tech's split personality showed up here too.

Missed on the upside: UnitedHealth up 2.62%, Bank of America up 2.42%, JPMorgan up 2.06%. Financials and healthcare were quietly climbing while everyone watched chips burn. That's not noise — that's rotation.

Broadcom off 2.23% — another chip name that couldn't escape the gravity. Apple up 1.7%, which held the line but didn't lead.

So the session: software wins, chips lose, financials rotate in, retail wobbles.

Futures into the close — SPY down 0.14%, basically flat. QQQ down 1.52%, and that's the chip damage dragging Nasdaq. VIX at 16.59 — not panicking, not comfortable. Gold data unavailable. Asian markets data unavailable.

ETF confirmation: SPY down 0.14%, QQQ down 1.52%, IWM down 0.38%, DIA flat. Small caps slightly soft. Dow held. The divergence between QQQ and DIA tells you exactly where the pain lived today — and it wasn't Main Street industrials.

Nothing on the economic calendar. No major catalysts scheduled. The market moved on earnings and sentiment, not data.

Earnings on deck: SBSAA, BABB, and LNN report before the open. LNN has an EPS estimate of $1.22 — watch the beat-or-miss spread. PKE estimates $0.14 EPS. Small caps, modest numbers, but misses move these names hard on thin volume.

Tomorrow is July 3rd. Markets close early ahead of the holiday weekend. Volume drops fast. Spreads widen. Thin tape rewards the patient and punishes the sloppy.

Know what you're holding and why.

Numbers don't lie. People do. Trade accordingly.