Morning Bid: From payrolls to profits

By Anna Szymanski

Mon, July 6, 2026 at 3:34 AM PDT 5 min read

By Anna Szymanski

July 6 (Reuters) -

What matters in U.S. and global markets today

By Anna Szymanski, Editor-in-Charge, Reuters Open Interest

Markets began the week on a mixed note, with Asian shares easing and Wall Street futures ticking up before the bell on Monday ahead of the first wave of second-quarter earnings reports this week.

Investors returning from the U.S. July 4 holiday and 250th ‌anniversary celebrations will be digesting those earnings alongside a softer-than-expected U.S. jobs report last week, which prompted markets to scale back rate-hike bets and helped propel global stocks higher on the week.

I'll ‌get into that and more below.

But first, listen to the latest episode of the Morning Bid daily podcast, where we discuss the longer-term implications of the OPEC+ move and preview the week ahead.

Subscribe to hear Reuters journalists discuss the biggest news in markets and ​finance.

FROM PAYROLLS TO PROFITS

Tech stocks and the health of the AI boom will remain top of mind for investors this week as trading gets back to normal after the U.S. holiday. Chip stocks, which soared in the first half of the year even as the so-called Magnificent Seven lagged, were swept up in last week's tech selloff and could face a further test this week.

The chip-heavy KOSPI index eased 0.5% on Monday ahead of Samsung Electronics' earnings on Tuesday. The South Korean tech giant is expected to post an 18-fold jump in profit on soaring demand for AI memory, though enormous bonus payouts could weigh on earnings.

Meanwhile, rival chipmaker SK Hynix is preparing to ‌launch its U.S. listing on Monday with a view to raising $28 billion, with ⁠its shares set to start trading on the Nasdaq on Friday. Also in tech news, Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to join the Nasdaq on Tuesday.

The earnings season will kick off this week, with S&P 500 companies expected to deliver robust growth of more than 24% in the second quarter. Among the first major companies to ⁠report stateside later in the week will be Delta Air Lines and PepsiCo, both of which could shed light on the health of the U.S. consumer.

That will be particularly important given last week's dominant market story: the downside surprise of the U.S. June jobs report. It showed nonfarm payrolls rose by just 57,000, well short of expectations for a 110,000 increase. April and May payroll figures were also revised down by a combined 74,000.

The soft print led investors to dial ​back ​expectations for Federal Reserve tightening as soon as September and helped lift some U.S. equities on Thursday, though a tech ​selloff continued to weigh on the Nasdaq. Global shares went on to post their ‌best weekly performance in two months, with MSCI's broadest index of world shares climbing some 2%.