Good morning, you're listening to Markets Desk.
Global equity markets are catching a bid this Friday after softer-than-expected U.S. jobs data cooled rate hike expectations. European shares are set to open higher, and Indian markets extended a two-session winning streak, with traders now pricing in a Fed hold both this month and potentially through September.
Shifting to the defense sector, Ukraine has secured a one-billion-dollar EU loan to purchase one hundred Patriot interceptor missiles, a move that underscores just how acute the air defense shortage has become. With annual global production running between eight hundred and eight hundred fifty missiles, and only expected to surpass one thousand by two thousand twenty-seven, every procurement deal carries serious strategic weight.
And on the equity side, Sandisk is drawing attention as the best-performing S and P five hundred stock through the first half of two thousand twenty-six, riding a significant memory chip shortage that has tightened supply and lifted margins. Whether that momentum carries into the second half remains the central question for semiconductor investors heading into the back half of the year.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
