US equity markets advanced ahead of key jobs data tonight AEST ahead of the 4 July holiday, with investors also continuing to the progress of the massive tax and spending bill that is now being debated in the House of Representatives (after narrowly being approved in the Senate a day earlier) while eying the 9 July deadline tariff deadline - Dow dipped -11-points or -0.02% Nike Inc (up +4.06%) was the leading performer in the 30-stock index, climbing to a three-month high. Apple Inc (up +2.22%) advanced for a fourth straight session following reports at the start of the week that the iPhone maker could use OpenAI or Anthropic to power the next generation of Siri. Apple was the only member of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ to lose ground in the second quarter (down -7.64%). Microsoft Corp (down -0.20%) confirmed a Bloomberg report of plans to make more cuts to its global workforce that could impact an estimated 9K workers and primarily effect sales teams. The latest cuts come just weeks after a reported 3% workforce reduction affecting ~6K employees. Amazon.com Inc slipped -0.24%, with a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing recording that founder Jeff Bezos more than 3.3M shares of his company in a sale valued at ~US$736.7M in late June. The stock sale is part of a previously arranged trading plan adopted by Mr Bezos in March. Under that arrangement, Bezos plans to sell up to 25M shares of Amazon over a period ending 29 May, 2026.
