{"slug": "morning-bid-doubled-by-halftime", "title": "Morning Bid: Doubled by halftime", "summary": "Chip stocks have more than doubled in the first half of 2026 despite a turbulent period marked by the Iran war and geopolitical tensions, with the U.S. SOX chip index posting its best second quarter on record. The Federal Reserve remains poised for potential rate hikes as the U.S. economy shows signs of overheating, while Japan's yen weakens to 40-year lows without intervention. Comcast rose nearly 5% after announcing a split of its media and entertainment units from its communications business.", "body_md": "By Mike Dolan\n\nJune 30 (Reuters) -\n\nWhat matters in U.S. and global markets today\n\nBy Mike Dolan, Editor-at-Large, Finance and Markets\n\nIt's halftime for 2026 markets as the whistle blows on a turbulent and volatile first six months of the year.\n\nDespite the energy-shocking four-month Iran war and rancorous geopolitics over Venezuela, Greenland and NATO, it's been a boom year for key parts of the AI story, with chip stocks more than doubling.\n\nI'll get into that and more below.\n\nBut first, check out my latest column on the lingering risks around the AI boom - even as bubble fears wane.\n\nAnd catch the latest episode of the Morning Bid podcast - a mid-year special edition featuring Markets Columnist Jamie McGeever.\n\nSubscribe to hear Reuters journalists discuss the biggest news in markets and finance seven days a week - and subscribe to Jamie's markets newsletter, Trading Day.\n\nDOUBLED BY HALFTIME\n\nMany individual chip stocks trebled or quadrupled this year on pumped-up AI capex by the so-called hyperscalers. The second quarter was the best on record for the U.S. SOX chip index, but June was the worst month in a dour year so far for the Magnificent Seven - most of whom are doing all the spending.\n\nOil prices have returned to pre-Iran war levels, meantime, with all eyes on planned peace talks in Doha on Tuesday after the weekend's military flareups.\n\nBut Federal Reserve rate-hike bets are still in the mix for the second half regardless, as recent macro releases show the U.S. economy may be running hot.\n\nMore immediately, the quarter ended on an upbeat note for the big chip-stock winners in Asia, with Wall Street's attention now turning to the June jobs report due on Thursday in this holiday-shortened week.\n\nAhead of that, U.S. May job openings data is on the schedule for Tuesday, as are consumer confidence updates for June.\n\nAnother big development on Monday was the narrow U.S. Supreme Court ruling that President Trump cannot fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook until the case against her is heard and proven. If she's found guilty, it's a different matter.\n\nOver in FX markets, Japan's yen continued to weaken to 40-year lows, without intervention from the authorities so far, despite ongoing warnings. Speculative short positions in the yen have risen to their highest in about two years, with investors increasingly nervous about the prospect of official action to prop up the flagging currency.\n\nIn corporate news, Comcast ended almost 5% higher on Monday after it announced it was splitting its media and entertainment units from its communications business, spinning out NBCUniversal and Sky into a different company.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/morning-bid-doubled-by-halftime", "canonical_source": "https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-doubled-halftime-104404741.html", "published_at": "2026-06-30 10:44:04+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-30 11:22:07.239102+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-chips", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-startups", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Comcast", "NBCUniversal", "Sky", "Federal Reserve", "Lisa Cook", "Supreme Court", "Japan", "Iran"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/morning-bid-doubled-by-halftime", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/morning-bid-doubled-by-halftime.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/morning-bid-doubled-by-halftime.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/morning-bid-doubled-by-halftime.jsonld"}}