Trading results for 4 June 2025
After Tuesday's relatively unexpected yet decent market growth, few seriously anticipated the same scenario to repeat on Wednesday. As is often the case, Wednesdays tend to be tense, and the outcome was particularly hard to predict. In the end, trading turned out to be nervous but largely inconclusive.
In the morning, many global stock markets – particularly in Asia – showed moderate growth on a wave of optimism about the upcoming phone call between the leaders of the U.S. and China scheduled for Friday. Whether this optimism was justified remains to be seen, but the market was clearly in a better mood.
Some support might have come from macroeconomic data published before the opening bell. Unfortunately, this did not happen. According to ADP, only 37,000 new jobs were created in the U.S. non-farm sectors in May, against a forecast of 111,000 – the weakest figure since March 2023.
Investor sentiment was further hit by disappointing quarterly results from Dollar Tree (DLTR), which reported a 50% fall in profits, mainly due to tariff impacts. As a result, the company’s shares were hit hard by bears, ending the day down more than 8% (-8.37%).
This combination of factors prevented the bulls from pushing prices higher – although the intention was certainly there. The day turned into a tough tug-of-war between buyers and sellers, ending in a draw.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA-30) slipped 0.22%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite added 0.32%. Notably, this modest gain pushed the NASDAQ into positive territory year to date – an achievement in itself.
The main U.S. benchmark, the S&P 500, ended flat, rising by a mere 0.44 points or 0.01%. During the session, it attempted to reach the key resistance level near 6,000 points, but the move failed to hold and the index closed roughly where it began.
A similar picture was seen across the ITS index family. The ITS Shariah Index (ITSS) dipped 0.1%, while the ITS World Index (ITSW) took another small step towards a new all-time high, gaining 0.5%. Now just 3 points – or less than 0.3% – separate it from the top.
Once again, it is worth highlighting that the recent rise in the ITSW index has been driven mostly by European and Asian issuers rather than American ones. As of yesterday, only three U.S. companies – Meta Platforms (META), Eli Lilly (LLY) and Broadcom (AVGO) – made it into the top ten, and none occupied the leading spots. The best performers were NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI) from the Netherlands and Spotify Technology S.A. (SPOT), registered in Luxembourg, which gained 5.56% and 4.47% respectively.
Still, Wednesday turned out to be an ordinary trading day that did little to shift the balance of power in the market. There are reasons to stay optimistic – such as the NASDAQ’s return to positive territory – but also reasons for caution. In particular, the S&P 500 chart appears to be forming a double top – a powerful reversal pattern in technical analysis. Whether this reversal materialises will likely become clear in the coming days.