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News of the day for June 8, 2026

The Nasdaq Composite fell more than 4% on Friday as tech stocks plunged.
Credit: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Stock futures are rising this morning after a tech-fueled sell-off on Friday sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to their worst weekly performances in more than a year; oil prices are volatile as investors monitor developments in the Middle East; Oracle and Adobe lead a busy week of earnings reports that will also include the release of inflation data and the potential IPO of SpaceX; Marvell shares are surging following the announcement that the AI chip designer will join the S&P 500; and Apple's annual developers conference kicks off this afternoon. Here's what you need to know today.

Stock Futures Rise After Friday's Sell-Off

Stock futures are higher to open the week after the major indexes pulled back sharply to end last week, snapping a nine-week winning streak for the S&P 500. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were recently up 0.7% and 1.3%, respectively, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.3%. Stocks fell sharply Friday, with the Nasdaq tumbling more than 4%, as tech stocks continued pulling back from a rally that had lifted major indexes to a series of record highs. Crude oil prices rose this morning but were well off earlier highs as investors tracked the latest developments in the Middle East (more on that below), while gold futures ticked lower to $4,350 an ounce. Bitcoin was at $63,000, after falling Friday to near $59,000, its lowest point since Oct. 2024. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects interest rates on all sorts of loans, ticked higher to 4.53%.

Oil Prices Are Volatile as Investors Monitor Middle East Developments

Oil prices are slightly higher after Iran and Israel traded strikes over the weekend for the first time since agreeing to a ceasefire in April, providing the latest signal to investors that the conflict is poised to continue without a long-term deal in the immediate future. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, were up 1.5% at around $92 per barrel, after rising as high as $95.50 overnight. Prices backed off their highs after Iran on Monday reportedly announced that it had discontinued military operations against Israel, though warned that Israeli strikes against Lebanon could lead to an escalation. Israel reportedly conducted strikes on Lebanon on Sunday, leading Iran to retaliate for the attacks, which led to retaliatory strikes from Israel against Iran, with the Houthi rebels in Yemen also claiming to have fired a missile at Israel. President Trump said on social media that Israel and Iran "must immediately stop 'shooting.'"

Inflation Data, Earnings, Apple Event and Possible SpaceX IPO on Deck

Investors are preparing for a busy week of earnings, economic data and—possibly—what is expected to be the biggest IPO ever. The earnings calendar is headlined by Oracle (ORCL) and Adobe (ADBE), which are scheduled to release results on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Other companies set to report include J.M. Smucker (SJM), Chewy (CHWY), Cracker Barrel (CBRL) and Casey's General Stores (CASY). The May Consumer Price Index is set for release Wednesday, giving investors the latest look into how the conflict in the Middle East is affecting inflation, while the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report is due out Friday. Aside from earnings and economic data, Apple (AAPL) will convene its Worldwide Developers Conference (more on that below), while SpaceX could make its public trading debut as soon as this week.

Marvell Stock Jumps on News of Inclusion in S&P 500

Marvell Technology (MRVL) shares are surging this morning as investors cheer the next big step for the AI chip designer: being added to the S&P 500. On Friday, S&P Dow Jones Indices said Marvell and Flex (FLEX) would join the benchmark index on June 22 as part of its quarterly rebalancing, taking the spots of Campbell's (CPB) and Pool (POOL). Marvell shares were up 8% in recent premarket trading, after plunging 17% on Friday amid the broader tech stock sell-off. The stock had been trading at record highs, and received a boost early last week when Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said that Marvell could be "the next trillion-dollar company."

Apple's Annual WWDC Starts Today With AI Siri Expected

Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off today, with a keynote address set for 1 p.m. ET that analysts have said could be a pivotal moment for the company. The iPhone maker is expected to unveil a number of new AI features, including a Google Gemini-powered Siri that would enhance the abilities of the virtual assistant, along with a dedicated Siri chatbot app, among other things. The announcements could help return Apple to the forefront of the AI race after years of delays to the AI-enhanced Siri that disappointed investors. The talk centered around Siri has also overshadowed a key detail for Apple: this will be Tim Cook's final WWDC as CEO, as hardware executive John Ternus is set to take over the top job in September. Apple shares, which have gained 13% since the start of the year, were little-changed before the opening bell.

Take a Number: A Striking Figure In Economic News Today

Credit: Investopedia / Elizabeth Guevara

Key Takeaways

• Imports from China in the first quarter of 2026 were 40.7% lower than last year, reflecting a shift in supply chains away from what was at one time America's biggest trading partner.
• China has fallen behind Mexico, Canada, and Taiwan as manufacturers relocate to avoid the punishing tariffs on Chinese goods.
• The tariffs have discouraged Chinese imports, but haven't boosted U.S. manufacturing or employment in that sector.

Imports from China have taken a nosedive since last year, showing how seriously President Donald Trump's tariffs have shaken up global trade routes and affected what U.S. shoppers see on store shelves.

That's according to the Census Bureau, which reports that the U.S. imported $60.87 billion worth of goods from China in 2026 through March, compared to $102.66 billion over the same period in 2025—a 40.7% drop. Trump targeted China with especially punishing tariffs as part of his campaign to use import taxes to lure manufacturing back to American shores, at one point targeting what was then America's largest trading partner with a 164% tariff.

What This Means For The Economy

China is still a major exporter to the U.S., but is not nearly as dominant as it was before tariffs tilted the playing field.

Tariffs on China are lower these days, especially since the Supreme Court struck down many of Trump's import taxes in February.

The drop in Chinese imports has yet to produce the industrial renaissance in the U.S. that the tariffs were intended to accomplish, and the manufacturing sector has lost jobs consistently since the tariffs were put in place. Nor have they eliminated the trade deficit, which stood at $60 billion in March, compared with $66 billion in March 2024.

However, trade patterns have shifted in a big way: In the first quarter, China was the fourth-largest exporter to the U.S. behind Mexico, Canada and Taiwan. In fact, the U.S. bought more than double the amount of products from Mexico in the first quarter than it did from China.

All that disruption has come at a price, and it's one that U.S. consumers have paid. Prices for "core" goods other than food and energy were up 2.8% over the year in April according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, helping push overall inflation well above the Federal Reserve's goal of a 2% annual rate. The increase is noteworthy because in pre-pandemic times, core goods prices typically stayed flat or decreased.

Apple is expected to unveil new technology this week.
Credit: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Inflation could be the story of the week—if it's not a big IPO.

Investors will get another look at how the conflict with Iran is hitting prices when the Consumer Price Index report for May arrives Wednesday. The CPI jumped 3.8% year-over-year in April, the largest annual rise in nearly three years, with gas prices up more than 28%. The war with Iran has largely sealed off the Strait of Hormuz, typically used to ship 20% of the world’s oil, fertilizer and other resources. “Core” inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, rose 2.8% year-over-year, suggesting that oil and gas inflation is spreading to other segments of the economy.

The Producer Price Index, which tracks wholesale prices, rose 6% year-over-year in April. And the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, which tracks money spent by and on behalf of households, rose 3.8% year-over-year in April. Inflation influences how the Fed sets interest rates, which impacts borrowing rates for everything from buying a home to paying off credit cards. Cost-of-living increases are particularly burdensome for working-class households, since prices tend to accelerate fastest for low-cost versions of goods.)

Investors will also be on the lookout for developments in the tech sector. Adobe is slated to report results, and Apple to hype up new releases.

And then there's SpaceX. The Elon Musk-led company has filed paperwork indicating that its IPO could raise $75 billion and put its valuation at $1.75 trillion. The IPO could happen as soon as this week and, eventually, be followed by the listing of two other billion-dollar companies: Anthropic and OpenAI.

Market Recap

The Dow Industrials, Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 retreated last week, dragged lower by a dramatic pullback in tech shares. The S&P saw a nine-week streak of gains come to an end. Bitcoin, meanwhile, finished the week around $60,000 after falling under that level on Friday, tapping levels more than 50% below last year's record highs. Concerns that the Fed might shift toward raising rates this year, driven by a stronger-than-expected monthly jobs number, also weighed on stocks. A full market recap is available here.

This Week's Top Events

Here's a look at notable events happening this week. TradingView publishes a more detailed calendar, but clicking the link will take you off the Investopedia site.

• Monday, June 8: Apple (AAPL) is scheduled to give the keynote at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference at 1 p.m. ET. The company will likely unveil new technology, which is expected to include an AI-powered version of Siri. Investors have been anxious for Apple to roll out compelling AI products since it floated the idea of an AI-fluent Siri in 2024. The keynote can be streamed online here.
• Tuesday, June 9: Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) is set to release its third-quarter results after the stock market closes, followed by a conference call at 5 p.m. ET. The Southern-style restaurant is still trying to shake off an August 2025 logo revamp that fell flat.
• Tuesday: Casey’s General Stores (CASY) is slated to release its fourth-quarter results after the closing bell, followed by a conference call Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Investors will watch for signs that consumers are spending less on gas or otherwise cutting back. Casey’s, which recently joined the S&P 500, said last quarter that Americans were unlikely to change their habits unless gas cost $5 a gallon.
• Wednesday, June 10: The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release the May Consumer Price Index reading at 8:30 a.m. ET. The CPI rose 3.8% year-over-year in April, up from 3.3% in March.
• Thursday: Adobe (ADBE) is slated to release its second-quarter results after the closing bell, followed by a conference call at 5 p.m. ET. Adobe posted better-than-expected results last quarter, but shares still slid as the company said CEO Shantanu Narayen plans to leave.
• Friday, June 12: The University of Michigan is set to update its Index of Consumer Sentiment at 10 a.m. ET. The index fell in May to the lowest level recorded since the survey began in 1952. Americans appear to be worried the war will exacerbate cost-of-living issues and damage the economy.  

More Investopedia Reads

Some economists think the U.S. economy could weather a permanent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Diccon Hyatt reports. The AI buildout has revived shares of Dotcom-era darlings like Hewlett Packard, Colin Laidley reports. (It's also made Michael Dell a very rich man.) Job openings hit a two-year high last month, Hyatt writes. And what effect could the SpaceX IPO have on your favorite index-tracking funds? Crystal Kim had the story.

Marvell Technology is set to join the S&P 500.
Credit: Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• The company that governs the S&P 500 on Friday tapped Marvell Technology and Flex as the next two companies to join the benchmark index.
• The two tech firms will replace consumer-oriented businesses Campbell's and Pool.

It might be a while before Marvell Technology becomes as valuable as Jensen Huang foresees. But some news late Friday gives it another boost.

Marvell (MRVL), which designs AI chips, got a nod early this week from Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Huang, who said it was likely to join the ranks of companies with $1 trillion market valuations. (Nvidia, to be sure, owns a chunk of Marvell, so a rising tide would lift both boats.) That statement sent Marvell's shares flying, though they later got caught up in a broad tech rout; the company ended the week with a market value of about $230 billion.

And on Friday, S&P Dow Jones Indices said Marvell, along with Flex (FLEX), a contract electronics manufacturer, would join the S&P 500 before trading opens on Monday, June 22, part of a periodic rebalancing. Marvell and Flex will replace consumer-focused companies Pool (POOL) and Campbell's (CPB), which will both join the S&P's SmallCap 600 index.

Shares of Marvell, which dropped nearly 17% on Friday, have risen more than 300% this year. Flex, which ended the week's final session down nearly 5%, is up about 250% in 2026. Joining the S&P 500 or other major indexes generally lifts a stock, since funds that track them must buy the shares once a company is added.

Attention has been focused recently on S&P Dow Jones Indices and its decisions about which companies do and don't qualify for inclusion in its indexes, which underpin many widely held funds. The organization said this week that while it considered updating the rules for inclusion in the S&P 500, which might have sped the addition of SpaceX and other big IPOs expected this year, it would not.

The Nasdaq had its worst day in more than a year on Friday as a tech rout deepened.
Credit: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Tech stocks tumbled on Friday, with semiconductor stocks leading the sell-off after a blistering run-up to record highs in recent weeks.
• Some market watchers attributed the rout to profit-taking, and argued market fundamentals suggested tech stocks would rebound to lead markets higher into the end of the year.

Is gravity finally catching up with the AI rally?

Tech stocks continued to fall back down to Earth on Friday after a strong jobs report kicked yesterday's AI stock sell-off into overdrive. The Nasdaq Composite plummeted more than 4%, its worst daily performance since last April's “Liberation Day.”

The market's biggest winners so far this year were Friday's biggest losers. Shares of chipmaker Marvell (MRVL), which surged Tuesday after a shoutout from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, slumped 17%. Sandisk (SNDK) and Micron (MU)—up a respective 670% and 280% year-to-date earlier this week— tumbled more than 11%. Chip giants Nvidia (NVDA) and Broadcom (AVGO), with a combined market value of nearly $7 trillion, dropped 6% and 8%, respectively. 

Why This Is Important

Market watchers have been expecting tech stocks to take a breather after a months-long rally that minted a new trillion dollar company and propelled the major indexes to record highs. After Friday's bloodbath, investors may look to SpaceX's upcoming IPO to reinvigorate tech stocks.

While the tech rout was exacerbated on Friday by interest rate concerns, many market watchers were sanguine about the sell-off.

“It appears to be a case of profit-taking in the semiconductors,” wrote Navellier analysts on Friday. Semiconductor stocks have soared this year on red-hot demand for chips from AI data centers. The PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) dropped 10% on Friday, but is still up 70% this year.

Chip stocks' gains have stoked debate about whether Big Tech's data center spending is fueling an AI bubble. Bears doubt whether the tech giants spending hundreds of billions on AI will recoup their investments, and that excessive optimism is feeding a speculative frenzy akin to the Dotcom Bubble. Bulls expect an AI productivity boom to sustain demand for computing capacity. 

“I think if we're in a bubble, we're still early stages,” Warren Pies, co-founder of 3Fourteen Research, told CNBC on Friday. According to Pies, six stocks in the Nasdaq 100 have risen more than 400% over the past year, a far cry from the peak of the Dotcom Bubble when that figure was 22.

“I think there's way too much pessimism and worry at this point in time," Pies said. "And the metrics don't back it up." 

AI infrastructure investment was instrumental in making the first quarter the S&P 500's strongest period for corporate profits in years, and tech giants have signaled they have no plans to slow their spending anytime soon. Pies expects that spending to put tech stocks back in the driver's seat eventually. “We're heading higher later this year, [and] it's gonna have to be tech-led,” he said. “These rotations will be temporary.”

The next test of Wall Street's hunger for tech stocks could come late next week when Elon Musk's SpaceX may hit markets in the largest IPO in history. Its debut could set the tone for two other mega-IPOs expected later this year from frontier AI labs Anthropic and OpenAI. 

Apple is expected to unveil new AI features including an upgraded Siri at its annual WWDC event next week.
Credit: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off Monday, an event that could influence the trajectory of the iPhone maker's stock.
• Analysts expect to see a long-awaited AI upgrade to Siri, after delays have weighed on Apple's stock in recent years.

Apple has a big week ahead, with the iPhone maker expected to reveal new AI features at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference that could have a meaningful impact on its stock.

Apple (AAPL) shares are seen swinging up to about 3% by the end of the week following the highly anticipated event, which kicks off with a keynote at 1 p.m. ET Monday. A move of that size from Friday's close could see the tech giant's stock rise to a fresh high above $317, topping Wednesday's record, or drag it back below $298.

The stock has climbed about 13% since the start of the year, amid a broader rally as strong earnings reports from Apple and other big tech companies fueled enthusiasm for the sector.

Why This Matters to Investors

A revamped Siri and clearer timelines for when new AI features will be released could boost Apple's stock after a series of delays have weighed on shares.

Analysts have said recently that they expect a redesigned, AI-enhanced Siri to be the biggest announcement at WWDC, after Apple initially unveiled the concept back in 2024 and delayed its release multiple times. Apple is expected to introduce the more capable Siri, along with a potential standalone Siri chatbot app, at the event.

Bullish analysts at Wedbush, who have a Street-high target for the stock at $400, wrote this week that they see the event as a "pivotal moment" for Apple that will allow the company to better monetize its AI efforts.

Analysts are largely bullish on Apple ahead of the event, with five of the seven analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha calling the stock a "buy," along with one neutral and one "sell" rating. Their mean price target just under $328 would suggest upside of about 7% from Friday's close.

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh has his first FOMC meeting June 16–17 as officials weigh rate hikes, not the cuts Warsh has championed previously.
Credit: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Federal Reserve officials are signaling potential rate hikes if inflation persists, driven partly by the Iran war.
• Inflation remains well above the Fed's 2% target, with April's annual rate reaching 3.8%.
• Some Fed officials are arguing for patience, warning that aggressive rate hikes could hurt the job market.

Federal Reserve officials aren't ready to raise interest rates yet, but more of them are talking about the risk of rate hikes eventually if the Iran war keeps pushing up inflation.

It's a scenario that was almost unthinkable in January, when brand-new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh was first appointed and markets were gearing up for rate cuts. Instead, traders are increasingly anticipating a rate hike this year—and Fed officials aren't pushing back too much.

In their last remarks ahead of their June 16-17 meeting, analysts noted a clear hawkish shift among the Fed's 19 officials.

None of them was gearing up for rate hikes soon, and the Fed may still opt to hold rates steady all year, analysts say. But hawkish Fed officials talked more about the possibility of eventual rate hikes, while others argued for patience or weighed the risks that higher rates could pose.

Why This Matters To You

A Federal Reserve that's leaning toward hikes instead of cuts means higher borrowing costs on mortgages, car loans, and credit cards aren't going away—and could climb higher. What seemed like a year of relief for borrowers is now shaping up to be the opposite.

"A hawkish recalibration indeed is underway," wrote Ed Yardeni, a veteran economist and president of Yardeni Research. "Rate cuts are no longer part of the conversation. Rate hikes are."

The shift comes as the Fed's preferred inflation gauge hit an annual rate of 3.8% in April, almost double the Fed's 2% target. And it comes as the job market outperforms expectations, with U.S. employers adding 172,000 jobs in May. A stronger economy makes it easier for the Fed to battle inflation with higher rates, since employers are better able to absorb higher borrowing costs.

That all makes for a tricky first meeting for Warsh, who saw a path toward lowering rates over time before the Iran war started. Now, he'll be chairing a 19-member Federal Open Market Committee that "appears set to entertain the possibility of rate hikes," wrote Oscar Munoz, head of U.S. economics at TD Securities.

"Warsh is set for a baptism by fire at the next FOMC meeting," he wrote.

Not Now… But Eventually?

The more hawkish camp at the Fed made its stance clear: Rates are fine today, but may need to go up eventually if inflation keeps worsening.

"For today, it's reasonable to keep rates steady given the uncertainties around the economic outlook," Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said Tuesday. "But if recent trends continue, it may soon be appropriate to act."

The U.S. economy is now entering its sixth year of elevated inflation, she noted. The Fed should be wary of preventing an inflationary mindset before it starts, since waiting may force officials to raise rates more aggressively later and inflict greater damage, she said.

Inflation "is taking too long" to return to 2%, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said Wednesday. And interest rates seemingly have room to rise without prompting major pain in the economy, she suggested, pointing to "robust" consumer spending, corporate earnings "going gangbusters," and booming AI investments.

"These conditions indicate that monetary policy is not restraining the economy," she said. "I am increasingly concerned that higher interest rates could be necessary later this year to fully restore price stability."

Inflation is "running hot" and has been for years, Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid said late last week. The Fed needs to signal its "willingness to take the actions necessary" to bring inflation back to 2%, he said.

"Now is not the time to let down our guard," he said.

Case Against Hikes

A couple of Fed officials were more hesitant to raise rates, even as they, too, signaled greater concern about inflation.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said she's optimistic the Iran war could be resolved and leave only a "temporary imprint" on inflation, though she noted that could change if the conflict drags on.

She argued against being "overly aggressive" in addressing what could prove to be a short-term inflation shock, since higher rates could raise unemployment over time.

"Reacting to temporarily elevated energy price inflation would add unwarranted policy restraint, weighing unnecessarily on economic activity and labor market conditions," Bowman said last week.

Higher rates "could cause damage" to the job market long after the potentially temporary oil shock fades, Fed Governor Chris Waller said last month. Even so, he cautioned that each day the conflict drags on, the risks are rising that inflation will spread to areas beyond energy prices.

"I can no longer rule out rate hikes further down the road if inflation does not abate soon," he said, though he argued the Fed should "be patient in holding policy."

Patience Needed

It's a message that several Fed officials echoed, which could keep the Fed on hold for a while longer.

Monetary policy is "currently well-positioned to balance the risks" ahead for the economy, Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson said May 19.

Or, as New York Fed President John Williams put it, the Fed's policy rate is "in a very good place" to go up or down as the economy warrants.

"Monetary policy, I think, is exactly in the right place. I don't see any need to raise or lower interest rates right now," he told Yahoo Finance this month.

Nearly Half of the Cuts Since Early 2025 Have Been Customer-Facing Roles, New Analysis Shows

A Social Security Administration office in New York State, which has seen about a 13% cut in SSA staff, according to a new report.
Credit: Zhang Fengguo / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• The Social Security Administration's workforce is down more than 8,000 jobs since January 2025 and is the smallest it's been since 1967.
• Customer-facing roles account for nearly half the losses: about 3,800 fewer staff now handle field-office visits and 800-number calls.

The agency that sends monthly checks to more than 70 million Americans is running on its smallest staff in nearly 60 years—even as it insists service has never been better.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has cut more than 8,000 workers since January 2025, the largest one-year staffing cut on record, according to an analysis of federal data out this week from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

The 14% nationwide cut in staffing has left the agency with fewer employees than at any point since 1967, before it ran Supplemental Security Income, the safety-net program for low-income disabled and older people, and when it served two-thirds fewer beneficiaries.

The recent reduction in staffing has heightened concerns among advocates for senior citizens that retirees—who rely on Social Security checks to cover about 40% of their expenses—could lose access to crucial services. The SSA has denied that the quality of service has suffered as it pursues its "digital-first vision," but experts say the impact is being felt.

Why This Matters To You

Social Security sends checks to more than 70 million Americans, who rely on the funds to cover a large portion of their expenses in retirement. A big drop in customer-facing roles at the SSA could mean that phone calls from beneficiaries aren't answered, office-visits can't happen and open cases take a long time to resolve.

What the CBPP calls "radical changes" to the SSA have been felt in every state. Field offices in 42 states and Washington, D.C., each shed more than 10% of their staff between January 2025 and April 2026. Some states were hit harder than the 14% in overall staffing cuts nationwide. New Mexico lost 23% of its SSA workforce, while Hawaii and the District of Columbia lost 21% each.

Nearly half the cuts were to customer-facing roles, according to the CBPP. The agency shed more than 3,800 staff members who handle field office visits and the SSA's national 800 number. The SSA has shifted some employees to fill in some of the gaps. But moving workers into unfamiliar roles risks trading one bottleneck for another, the CBPP report argued.

A December Washington Post report concluded that "record backlogs... have delayed basic services to millions of customers."

SSA tells a different story. "Over the last year, we have delivered better, faster, higher-quality customer service," Frank J. Bisignano, the SSA's commissioner, said in a release last month. (The SSA did not respond to Investopedia's request for comment on the CBPP's report.)

The agency has trumpeted a December 2025 audit by its inspector general, which found the agency's phone service improved in 2025: the average wait dropped from 12 minutes in September 2024 to 7 minutes last September, even as the agency fielded 65% more calls. Last month, the SSA said the average response time for calls was even shorter, 6.6 minutes on average, and that it had reduced the backlog of initial disability claims by a third from its June 2024 peak.

But it's not clear that better performance drove those shifts. The inspector general flagged how SSA now measures wait times through its new telecommunications platform: callers who opt for a callback instead of staying on hold are counted as having waited no time at all. In fiscal year 2025, that meant 24 million calls were zeroed out when calculating average call times.

Kathleen Romig, a former Social Security official and a co-author of CBPP's staffing analysis, told Investopedia that any faster service for the national hotline would have come at a price. SSA shifted thousands of workers to cover calls to the 800 number, she said. Many were pulled from local offices and given only a few hours of training, the New Yorker reported last month. That left fewer people to book appointments or finalize open cases.

"If there aren't enough people to meet those demands, shifting them around is just playing whack-a-mole," Romig said.

A report from the nonpartisan Urban Institute also questioned the agency's success in reducing the disability claims backlog. It attributed the shrinking backlog more to a 7% drop in disability applications in fiscal 2025 and a "sharper than usual" rise in claim denials than to better service.

Having closed six of its 10 regional offices, the SSA steered routine tasks—checking benefits, replacing a card, tracking a claim—to its online platform and automated phone line, where self-service tools and AI chatbots now handle about 2.9 million calls a month, up from about 300,000 a year earlier.

But critics argue the digital-first approach is a bad fit for those the agency primarily serves.

Shannon Benton, executive director of the Senior Citizens League, said many older adults face digital and phone system barriers—spotty internet access, limited digital skills, hearing lossand a fear of online scams. "For many older Americans," Benton said, "maintaining access to local field offices and face-to-face assistance remains critically important."

The FTSE Russell and Nasdaq paved the way to include mega IPOs like SpaceX into their indexes.
Credit: Photo by Michael Yanow / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• FTSE Russell, Nasdaq, and S&P Dow Jones Indices have decided, through their respective consultations, what they'll do about new mega-cap companies going public.
• In the most immediate terms, one thing that means is that shares of SpaceX, expected to hit markets soon, won't jump quickly into popular S&P 500 index funds.

Elon Musk's rocket startup is getting the Very Important IPO treatment—with some caveats.

Major index providers, including the LSEG's FTSE Russell and the Nasdaq, have made it easier for new mega-cap stocks to land in their indexes. Those moves come ahead of expected offerings from SpaceX, as well as AI companies with massive private valuations, and they have some investors worried that the guardians of major market benchmarks were relaxing standards to stay relevant.

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, which could list next week under the symbol "SPCX," could gain fast-entry into some popular indexes, meaning buying from the funds that track those measures. Just not the S&P 500, which underpins the funds in which the great American investing public is most heavily invested.

WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU

When SpaceX lands in public markets, its impact will likely be felt across a swath of investment funds, whether investors in those products wanted shares or not.

S&P Dow Jones Indices, a subsidiary of S&P Global, on Thursday said it won't make the proposed changes to eligibility criteria that would have shortened the seasoning period required before companies can join the benchmark index and eased financial requirements to make room for new companies with huge market valuations. (That means SpaceX, but likely also companies like Anthropic and OpenAI.)

The decision to keep unchanged rules governing the S&P 500, as well as the S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600, followed a committee's "review of the markets and after consideration of responses received from a wide range of market participants." Companies that want in will have to meet current profitability and public float requirements and have a listing history of at least 12 months to be considered. In other words: Size won't be the determining factor to get into the S&P.

That doesn't preclude mega-cap companies from getting fast-tracked into other S&P products, such as the S&P Total Market Index and Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index, neither of which have financial viability requirements for inclusion. (Some S&P indexes will also now see relaxed requirements for float, which could also ease entry for certain companies.)

Investors may want to keep an eye on their portfolios for how much overall exposure they'll have to SpaceX after its IPO. Indexes such as the Nasdaq 100 and the Russell 1000, which are tracked by a wide swath of investment funds, could move to include the rocket company after five (FTSE Russell) or 15 (Nasdaq) days of public trading, as opposed to months under previous rules.

Other indexes that had existing fast-entry rules in place, such as those based on benchmarks from the Center for Research in Security Prices, could also include SpaceX, though its estimated weight across related funds will be relatively small, according to Morningstar's Alex Poukchanski and Alex Bryan.

How the indexes and the funds that track them perform in the aftermath will determine whether index investors feel regret or FOMO. SpaceX—or Anthropic or OpenAI—could flop, or shoot the lights out.

"This could create significant return dispersion [between] 'passive' indexes," wrote Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. "Choose wisely."

Stocks tumbled on Friday after a strong jobs report appeared to put rate hikes on the table.
Credit: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Stocks slid and Treasury yields jumped on Friday after a strong May jobs report dashed investor hopes for more rate cuts this year.
• The debate on Wall Street is shifting from when the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates to whether it will raise rates in response to a resilient labor market and rising inflation.

Businesses are hiring a little too much for Wall Street's liking.

The U.S. added 172,000 jobs in May, nearly twice what economists were expecting, while the unemployment rate held steady at a relatively low 4.3%. After stalling out last year, the job market has reaccelerated in 2026 despite the economic headwinds created by the war in Iran and the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The number of job openings surged to a two-year high in April, according to data released earlier this week.

Stocks, however, sold off on Friday as investors shifted their interest-rate expectations for the remainder of the year. The S&P 500 was down more than 2% in recent trading, weighed down by a roughly 4% decline for tech stocks. It wasn't just the AI rally taking a breather Friday, however: Some two-thirds of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange were recently in the red.

Why This Is Important

Throughout 2025, the Federal Reserve's focus gradually shifted from inflation pressures to a weakening labor market. That trend reversed this year as the war in Iran drove up oil prices, aggravating inflation, and hiring picked up.

“Any hopes of a Fed rate cut have effectively been eliminated with this morning's strong jobs report,” said Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard.

The Fed cited a weakening labor market when it looked past elevated inflation and cut interest rates three times in late 2025. Investors entered 2026 expecting more reductions as inflation trended lower and hiring remained sluggish. Instead, the labor market strengthened and inflation reaccelerated. Temple estimates high oil and gas prices pushed inflation to a three-year high above 4% last month.

Instead of cuts, investors are betting rate hikes are increasingly likely. The odds of one hike rose on Friday to 43% from 38% yesterday and 26% a month ago, according to federal funds futures trading data. The probability of two or more hikes doubled overnight to about 25%.

Treasury yields jumped following Friday's report. The 2-year Treasury yield, widely considered the best reflection of Wall Street's expectations for monetary policy, soared more than 10 basis points to 4.16%, its highest level in over a year. The 10-year yield, which influences rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, was 4.54% in recent trading, up from 4.48% Thursday.

Rate hikes could spell trouble for a high-flying stock market that's being fueled by an increasingly debt-laden AI data center buildout. Corporate America's profit growth is strong, but higher rates erode the value of those profits over time and compress stock valuations, which are currently above their historical average. They also weigh on consumer spending, adding to the pressure of the highest gas prices in years. The Fed's last rate hiking cycle, in 2022, plunged stocks into a bear market.

The disconnect between job growth and labor supply, curtailed by the Trump administration's immigration policies and an aging population, could be the Fed's next major pain point, according to Bill Adams, lead U.S. economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank. “Labor supply is turning into a supply-side constraint to growth, which could pressure the Fed to raise rates later this year even if inflation shocks from the Middle East and tariffs fade,” he wrote Friday.

Others expect the labor market's recent strength will be too transitory to warrant hikes. May's strong numbers look more like “a seasonal surge than a turning point for the labor market,” said Adam Schickling, senior economist at Vanguard. Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics, expects inflation to continue rising. “The resulting squeeze in consumer spending is one reason to expect job gains will moderate again over the summer,” she wrote.

There could, however, be a path through the concerns. "We could be in the sweet spot" if the economy continues to grow and oil-driven inflation subsides, said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management. He expects "a lot of investor enthusiasm" to help the stock market overcome headwinds that include elevated valuations, inflation, and fear of AI-driven job displacement.

"The market," Zaccarelli said, "always climbs a wall of worry."