Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Equities are under pressure today as a deepening rout in chipmakers drags the broader market lower. The S&P five hundred is off more than one percent, but the real pain is in tech — the Nasdaq one hundred is down two and a quarter percent, with semiconductor names leading the selloff and futures pointing to continued weakness into the close.
Shifting to currencies, the dollar index is holding modest gains, finding support from a surge in crude oil prices — West Texas Intermediate jumping roughly three percent on the session. Higher oil raises inflation expectations, which in turn keeps the door open for tighter Fed policy, and that dynamic is giving the greenback a floor even as equity sentiment deteriorates.
On the dividend front, Qualcomm has declared a quarterly cash dividend of ninety-two cents per common share, payable September twenty-fourth of two thousand twenty six. WEC Energy Group also announced a dividend of ninety-five point two five cents per share. Both declarations signal boardroom confidence despite today's choppy tape across the broader market.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
