Here's what powered the stock market higher during its short and sweet record week
Key Takeaways
Thursday's jobs report helped cap off the week on a positive note.
Article Overview
Quick insights and key information
6 min read
Estimated completion
investment
Article classification
July 3, 2025
05:44 PM
CNBC
Original publisher
Short and sweet: That was this week's stock market in a nutshell
The second half of the year kicked off in record style, with both the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq closing at multiple all-time highs, including in Thursday's holiday-shortened session
Stock market is closed on Friday for the Fourth of July
Extending its stunning comeback from its April sell-off, stock Nvidia broke all kinds of records this week as its market value topped $3. 9 trillion on Thursday
It the day up 1. 3% at $159. 34 a, good for a $3. 89 trillion market cap
To fully appreciate the current bullishness on Wall Street, we have to look back on the volatile second quarter in the market, which Monday
Considering the Nasdaq lost over 12% in the first week of the quarter on President Donald Trump's "recical" tariff announcement, it was incredible to see the -heavy index close out the April-to-June period with a 17
That was the Nasdaq's best quarterly performance since the early days of Covid, when it gained over 30% in the second quarter of 2020, as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to zero and pumped money into the economy to prevent economic Armageddon from the pandemic
The S & P 500, meanwhile, advanced 10. 57% in this year's second quarter, recovering from a greater-than-11% decline in the first week of April
The board market index saw its best quarter since Q4 of 2023, when it gained 11
Eight out of the 11 sectors advanced in the April-to-June period, with nology leading the way with 23
The worst performing sector was energy, which lost 9. 37% in Q2, its worst quarter since Q3 of 2020
The bulk of the losses in energy came in the waning days of the second quarter when oil prices tanked ing the U
Bombing of three Iranian nu sites
The market deemed the U
Involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict as a non-systemic risk and West Texas Intermediate crude sank nearly 9% for the quarter
In the absence of any major headlines out of the Mideast and Trump's Wednesday announcement of a framework for a trade deal with Vietnam, the S & P 500 and Nasdaq each advanced for the week, up 1. 6%, respectively
Capitol Hill is on the precipice of dering the president a major legislative victory, with the final passage of the "big, beautiful bill" of spending priorities and tax cuts expected soon after ing a key cedural vote in the House
Ironically, a strong jobs report Thursday cut both ways for the president
On the one hand, more hiring and a lower unemployment rate shows the resiliency of the economy in the face of the tariff and geopolitical uncertainty
That was a win for Trump
But on the other hand, strength in the economy weakens the president's argument for immediate Federal Reserve interest rates cuts
In fact, on the eve of the government's June employment report and ing a much weaker-than-expected ADP private-sector jobs reading, the president posted on social media that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell should resign
Trump was quiet on the rate front on Thursday
That's because payrolls for last month grew by 147,000, much more than the Dow Jones estimate for 110,000
The nation's unemployment rate in June dipped to 4. 1% when a slight uptick to 4. 3% had been expected
To be sure, much of that unemployment rate decline can be attributed to fewer people working or looking for jobs
Average hourly earnings for last month increased by a less-than-expected 3. 7% versus the year0ago period and were below the 3. 8% gain seen in May
This week, we got positive from the banks, which were free to capital allocation plans ing the conclusion of the Fed's stress tests
Holdings Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo were the two standout winners this year, and both of them increased their dividends
Goldman hiked its quarterly payout by 33% to $4 per
Wells Fargo boosted its dividend 12. 5% to 45 cents per
For Wells, the stress test was just one more bit of good news since the 2018 Fed-imposed $1. 95 trillion asset cap was lifted early last month
Another positive within the portfolio came Monday when Jim Cramer interviewed Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on "Mad Money. " In the wide-ranging interview, Jassy ly laid out the massive opportunity he sees in artificial intelligence, as well its long-term bets such as its ject Kuiper satellite internet service
Jim is optimistic that Kuiper could eventually help Amazon's Prime gram add more members
The interview came ahead of the company's first-ever four-day Prime Day, which kicks off Tuesday and goes to Friday
Over at Meta Platforms, we learned more CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "superintelligence" ambitions, as he authored a memo to employees explaining the new internal structure for AI re at the company
As we wrote in an analysis piece Tuesday, Zuckerberg's costly push to hire the best and brightest AI minds hasn't cost Meta stock yet because investors believe the payoff will be worth it
Depot, meanwhile, announced that Monday that it would acquire GMS, a building materials distributor that specializes in ducts such as drywall, steel studs and insulation
Including debt, the deal gives GMS an enterprise valuation of $5
While we understand Depot's desire to push further into the world of fessional contractors — building on last year's pricey takeover of SRS Distribution — Jim said he wishes the money spent on GMS was instead spent repurchasing stock because he believes Depot s are considerably undervalued
Finally, the S & P Short Range Oscillator Thursday's session even further into overbought territory at 8. 25% (the threshold to determine overbought or oversold conditions is plus or minus 4%, respectively)
While can stay overbought for a while, we to look for areas to raise cash when we reach these levels as they indicate a near-term pullback is increasingly ly. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long NVDA, AMZN, META and HD
See here for a full list of the stocks. ) As a r to the CNBC with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade
Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio
If Jim has talked a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade
THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER
NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION VIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE
NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR FIT IS GUARANTEED
Jim Cramer looks at how 2 of our high-flying stocks crushed Wall Street naysayersNatasha AbellardCramer sees jobs data as a win for Fed's Powell over Trump — plus, possible stocks to trimMatthew J
BelvedereJim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market ThursdayJim CramerRead More.
Related Articles
More insights from FinancialBooklet