Chip ETF Surges on Jobs Data as Sector Fragmentation Belies Rally
Published on 07/05/2026 at 18:47 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Wall Street’s worst fears about the labour market turned out to be a shot in the arm for semiconductor bulls on Friday. The iShares MSCI Global Semiconductors UCITS ETF closed 4.37 percent higher at €19.30, its sharpest single-day gain in months, after a surprisingly weak US jobs report rekindled bets on a September rate cut.
The US economy added just 57,000 new positions in June, according to data released Thursday, while May’s figure was revised down to 129,000. Economists had pencilled in 115,000. The disappointment swept through financial markets, with the CME FedWatch Tool showing traders slashing wagers on further tightening and instead pricing in a first cut as soon as September. That shift in expectations provided immediate relief to interest-rate-sensitive sectors, with chip stocks leading the charge.
Yet beneath the headline rally, the semiconductor landscape remains deeply fractured. While AI-chip darlings Nvidia and Broadcom have held up relatively well, equipment makers are under the microscope. KLA Corporation tumbled 11.5 percent on Thursday and Teradyne plunged 13.6 percent, dragging the VanEck Semiconductor ETF down 4.5 percent. The divergence is stark: designers of cutting-edge silicon are buoyed by insatiable AI demand, while suppliers of older-generation fabrication gear face a looming capex slowdown. The fund’s annualised 30-day volatility stands at a punchy 68.23 percent.
Asia’s memory-chip giants staged a dramatic reversal after a brutal week. South Korea’s Kospi index soared 5.76 percent on Friday, recovering nearly all of the previous session’s near-8 percent plunge. Samsung Electronics jumped 6.5 percent, while SK Hynix added 4.2 percent—though Samsung still ended the week roughly 10 percent in the red. In Japan, Kioxia Holdings surged 7.3 percent, and the broader TOPIX index rose as capital rotated back into tech and export plays. The secondary article notes that earlier in the week, NAND oversupply fears had weighed on the sector, but buyers piled in ahead of the weekend, with SK Hynix ultimately gaining more than 11 percent in the session and Samsung over 9 percent.
The groundwork for the selloff was laid in early June when Broadcom issued a cautious outlook for its third fiscal quarter of 2026, projecting AI revenue of $16 billion—well shy of analyst expectations. That warning sparked a broad rotation out of semiconductor names that persisted until the jobs data hit the tape. Despite the chip-related drag, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a fresh all-time high on Thursday, closing up 594.83 points or 1.14 percent at 52,900.07, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lagged. Europe’s Stoxx 600 added 0.5 percent, heading for its fourth consecutive weekly gain.
The ETF, which tracks the MSCI ACWI IMI Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment ESG Screened Select Capped Index, offers exposure to large-, mid- and small-cap chip companies across 23 developed and 24 emerging markets. Launched in August 2021 and domiciled in Ireland, it manages roughly €5.4 billion in assets and replicates its benchmark physically with a total expense ratio of 0.35 percent.
Year-to-date, the fund is up a staggering 95.48 percent, though the past seven trading sessions have been negative, shedding 2.62 percent. It now sits 8.19 percent above its 50-day moving average of €17.84 and more than 131 percent above its November low of €8.35. The relative strength index reads 51.0, hovering near neutral territory.
Industry group SEMI has meanwhile urged the US government to avoid direct intervention in memory-chip pricing and capacity, warning that such moves would dramatically worsen existing bottlenecks. Instead, it advocates targeted tax incentives to boost domestic production.
The coming week will bring fresh catalysts. Samsung Electronics is due to release preliminary second-quarter results on July 7, offering the first hard evidence of whether the AI boom is sustainably lifting memory-makers’ earnings. Analysts at Kiwoom Securities also point to South Korea’s June export data as a key near-term driver for the sector. Whether Friday’s rally has legs will depend on how resilient the rate-cut narrative proves—and whether Asia’s chip manufacturers can build on their rebound.
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