Author name: Mark Gardner

CEO Mark brings more than 25 years of experience in fixed-income and equities trading. He takes a holistic approach to investing, specialising in top-down thematic and macro analysis to identify opportunities and trends in the Australian and global equity market. Qualifications: Derivatives Level 2 (ADA2); ADA1; Margin Lending Tier 1; RG146; General Advice Stockbroking (1997) Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-gardner-88733334/ X: https://x.com/markgardn Livewire: https://www.livewiremarkets.com/contributors/mark-gardner-mpc-markets

MPC Morning Call

Dow hits Record, Chip stocks Sink

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Dow hits record 52,899 but chip stocks crater. June payrolls: 57k vs 115k expected. Rate hike odds slashed. We cover the jobs miss, what it means for the Fed, Meta’s $145B AI capex scramble, oil flattening at pre-war levels, gold surging on dollar weakness, and why 87% of the S&P 500’s H1 gains came from chips alone. Plus the 1990s Desert Storm parallel for where inflation goes from here. No show Monday (July 4th) — back Tuesday. Catch Bulls vs Bears this afternoon for the full H1 wrap.

MPC Morning Call

Chips Crack as AI Efficiency Fears Hammer SOX 6%

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Semiconductor stocks suffered their worst session in months as a 6.3% plunge in the SOX index followed reports that OpenAI had halved AI inference costs. Meta surged 8.8% on cloud infrastructure plans while Fed Chair Warsh said inflation risks had eased at the ECB’s Sintra forum. ASX futures point 23 points lower ahead of tonight’s early US payrolls release.

MPC Morning Call

Best Quarter in Six Years, Chips Steal the Show

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Wall Street closed its best quarter since 2020, with the S&P 500 up 14.8% and semiconductor stocks doubling on a record-breaking AI rally. Gold posted its worst quarter since 2013 as dollar strength and rate-hike bets crushed the metal, while U.S.–Iran talks resume in Doha with the Strait of Hormuz still contested.

MPC Morning Call

Dow Hits Record as Tech Bounces

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US stocks rallied to close out what’s shaping up as the best quarter in six years, with the Dow hitting a record 52,182 as Alphabet made its blue-chip debut. Tech bounced hard after last week’s AI-driven selloff, while the yen slid to 40-year lows and US-Iran talks in Doha offered a fragile path to de-escalation.

MPC Morning Call

Chips Crumble, Iran Flares and the Fed Stays Hawkish

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The S&P 500 fell 0.05% to 7,353.95 as the chip index plunged 5.3%, capping a week that saw the Nasdaq shed 4.6%. Weekend tit-for-tat strikes between the U.S. and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz have reignited ceasefire fears ahead of Tuesday’s Doha talks. The BIS warned that record debt, AI overinvestment and financial fragilities are building systemic risks.

MPC Morning Call

Chip Rally Has Consequences for Hyperscalers

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Micron’s blowout AI-driven earnings sent the memory chipmaker surging 16% and briefly past Meta and Tesla by market cap, but Apple’s aggressive price hikes to absorb soaring component costs dragged the Magnificent Seven lower and left the S&P 500 flat. May core PCE held at 3.4% year-on-year — in line with expectations — while oil rebounded after an attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz complicated the fragile US–Iran peace deal.

MPC Morning Call

Tech Jitters ease on Micron Earnings

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Wall Street’s rebound attempt fizzled as tech weakness dragged the Nasdaq lower, but Micron’s blowout after-hours guidance reignited AI confidence. Brent crude hit its lowest since the day before the Iran war began as Hormuz shipping normalised, sending Treasury yields sharply lower. ASX 200 futures point modestly higher ahead of May employment data.

Education, MacroTrends

MPC Monthly Markets June 2026

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June was a month of contradictions — semiconductors surged 106% YTD on relentless AI capex, SpaceX’s record IPO whipsawed retail investors, and new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh killed forward guidance cold. The Iran peace deal holds for now, but July’s nuclear talks could reset everything.

MPC Morning Call

MPC Morning Call 24th June: Chip Wrecked

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Global equities took a tech-fuelled beating on Tuesday as a South Korean media report triggered a 10% KOSPI collapse and sent the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 7.9% — its worst session in months. The S&P 500 lost 1.4% to 7,365 while the Nasdaq 100 shed 3.3% as AI spending concerns compounded the chip selloff. The ASX opens modestly higher, with Australia’s May CPI and an RBA Deputy Governor speech the key local events today.

MPC Morning Call

Tech Bleeds, Oil Retreats, Middle East Talks Grind On

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Wall Street ended Monday mixed as Alphabet and SpaceX led a tech rout — Alphabet fell 5% on back-to-back AI talent losses to Anthropic and OpenAI, while SpaceX slid 16% for its third straight day, erasing $600 billion in market value. U.S.–Iran peace talks in Switzerland produced a 60-day oil sales waiver, pushing Brent below $78. A hawkish Fed drove the 2-year yield to a 16-month high of 4.23%; ASX SPI futures point 0.2% higher to 8,831.

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