Stocks finished lower as the AI unwind extended and positioning stayed defensive into the close. 

The S&P 500 fell over 1%, the Nasdaq slid nearly 2%, and the Dow dropped about half a percent. 

Yields edged higher with the 10-year ending near 4.16%, while the dollar firmed modestly.

The day’s gravity well was tech. 

Oracle sank after renewed concerns around data-center financing reignited balance-sheet scrutiny, dragging Broadcom, Nvidia, AMD, and Alphabet lower in sympathy. 

The move reinforced what markets have been signaling all month: 

Capital is no longer paying upfront for AI ambition without clearer cash-flow visibility.

Energy offered a partial counterweight. 

Crude bounced from multi-year lows after the U.S. moved to block sanctioned Venezuelan tankers, lifting Brent back toward $60 and helping stabilize energy equities after a bruising stretch. 

Precious metals stayed firm, with gold and silver extending record runs as investors leaned into hedges.

Medline cut through the gloom, surging more than 40% in its IPO debut… a reminder that risk appetite isn’t gone, just selective. 

Defense names drifted lower late on reports of potential limits on buybacks and capital returns, adding another pocket of pressure.

Flows stayed telling: hedge funds continued to sell, while institutions leaned toward rotation rather than outright risk-off.

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Washington delivered a reminder that policy risk isn’t theoretical,  it’s procedural.

House centrists broke ranks to force a vote on extending enhanced ACA subsidies, siding with Democrats to bypass leadership gridlock. 

The move is unlikely to clear the Senate, but it surfaces a familiar pressure point: healthcare costs heading into an election year and the fiscal tradeoff between voter relief and deficit math. 

Markets don’t need passage to react, they just need the issue back on the calendar.

Defense, meanwhile, moved in the opposite direction: clean, bipartisan, and funded. 

The Senate passed a $901B NDAA, locking in modest budget growth, a 3.8% troop pay raise, and tighter constraints on reducing U.S. forces in Europe. 

The bill also reinforces missile defense, cybersecurity, and supply-chain localization. — while quietly pushing back on unilateral executive authority overseas. 

Not flashy, but durable.

Closer to home, a federal appeals court allowed the continued deployment of National Guard units in Washington, D.C., underscoring the administration’s expanded latitude inside federal jurisdictions. 

The ruling doesn’t resolve the broader constitutional fight, but it keeps enforcement posture intact while litigation drags on.

The signal is uneven but clear. 

Healthcare policy re-enters volatility territory, weighing managed care and insurers. 

Defense and security-adjacent contractors gain visibility and budget certainty. 

Infrastructure, cybersecurity, and logistics benefit from federal follow-through, while governance risk remains an underpriced variable markets are slowly relearning to watch.

Security and supply chains tightened in tandem, and markets took note.

In Europe, Poland confirmed it will restart anti-personnel mine production as part of its “East Shield” along borders with Belarus and Russia. 

The move formalizes what investors have already been pricing: Europe’s defense posture is shifting from deterrence to hard fortification. 

It also signals longer-cycle demand for munitions, engineering, and border infrastructure as regional governments rearm around the Russia risk.

Across Asia, a quieter but more consequential front advanced. 

China built a working prototype of an EUV lithography machine, the crown jewel of advanced chipmaking. 

lyIt’s not producing chips yet, but it compresses a timeline Washington assumed was safely distant. 

The implication isn’t an immediate supply shock, but a slow erosion of Western monopoly power in semicapex and a longer runway of tech decoupling risk.

Energy geopolitics added another layer. 

The U.S. escalated pressure on Venezuelan oil shipments, with dozens of sanctioned tankers now under scrutiny, while the UN urged restraint. 

Despite the rhetoric, crude barely flinched.

Supply remains ample, and enforcement looks targeted rather than absolute.

Put together, the flow tilts toward defense and border infrastructure as security spending hardens into policy. 

Semicapex stays selective rather than broad, while energy equities remain capped by surplus supply. 

Shipping volatility stays contained, with enforcement risk proving more political than disruptive.

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The market was repricing. 

Capital moved away from duration-heavy tech and toward balance-sheet certainty, income, and assets tied to real cash flow. 

Energy caught a tactical bid, IPO appetite flickered back to life, and volatility stayed contained despite headline noise. 

Tomorrow’s focus shifts to earnings cadence and whether this rotation broadens… or tightens further around quality.