Fear is still running the show
Wall Street spent Thursday doing its best impression of a kid who got told there’s no dessert: mixed, grumpy, and not especially impressed by the good news. The CNN Fear & Greed Index barely budged lower to 25.5, keeping it firmly in the “Fear” zone. Translation: investors are still twitchy, and nobody’s exactly rushing to do cartwheels.
Apple gave the Nasdaq a headache
The Nasdaq Composite fell more than 100 points during the session and ended down 0.46%, with Apple doing a lot of the heavy lifting on the downside after shares sank more than 6% when the company raised prices on several hardware products. That’s the kind of move that reminds you markets don’t care if your iPhone is fancy — they care if your margins are getting squeezed and customers are getting annoyed.
The macro stuff didn’t help either
The economic backdrop wasn’t exactly a warm hug:
- Core PCE inflation rose 3.4% year over year in May, the hottest reading since October 2023
- Initial jobless claims slipped to 215,000, below estimates
- Durable goods orders fell 4.5% in May after a big April jump
- First-quarter GDP came in at 2.1%, up from 0.5% in Q4
That mix is basically Wall Street’s least favorite smoothie: a little inflation, a little slowdown, and just enough resilience to keep the Fed conversation messy.
A few bright spots, but not enough to flip the vibe
Micron Technology delivered a strong earnings report, which helped show there’s still life in parts of the chip world. But on a day when investors were already leaning cautious, good company-specific news wasn’t enough to overpower the broader fear trade.
Big picture: when sentiment is this fragile, even decent earnings can get lost in the noise. Investors aren’t just watching what companies say — they’re watching whether the whole market is in “buy the dip” mode or “hide under the desk” mode.