Closing Bell: Dollar Surges as Tech Meltdown Sparks Flight to Safety

A structural migration out of growth equities accelerated on Wednesday, funneling capital from global tech giants to the safety of the U.S. dollar. 

The greenback climbed to its highest level since mid-2025, with a flight to safety from artificial intelligence and mega-cap tech stocks. Despite the growth-heavy tech drag, a steep retreat in energy costs and compressing Treasury yields provided a vital safety valve for cyclical and non-tech sectors, resulting in a fractured closing session. 

The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.43% to finish at 25476.64, while the benchmark S&P 500 slid 0.10% to close at 7,358.22. Conversely, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average weathered the storm, adding 0.35% to finish at 51848.90. The S&P 500 rose fractionally to 7358.22; JPMorgan raised its year-end target for the index to 7,800. 

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures plummeted beneath the $70.00 per barrel threshold, nearly erasing its remaining geopolitical war premium as tanker traffic resumes in the Strait of Hormuz. The decline in energy premium helped soothe aggregate inflation fears, sparking an aggressive short-covering bid in fixed income that compressed the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield down 91 basis points to 4.40%. 

Three things to watch from today’s market: 

• Capital Flees to Safety Amid Three-Day Equity Route: The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) jumped 0.20% to settle at 101.61, capturing a wave of defensive capital looking to escape the tech selloff that has dominated the first three trading days of the week. The hawkish shift rattled speculative digital asset products, forcing Bitcoin futures down more than 4% to settle at 59,580. 
• OpenAI's Custom 'Jalapeño' Inference Chip Spooks AI Accelerators: OpenAI and Broadcom jointly revealed "Jalapeño"—OpenAI's first proprietary, reticle-sized custom inference ASIC chip built specifically to run its next-generation LLM agents. The development sent a shockwave through competing custom silicon architectures, dragging down AI hardware specialist Cerebras (CBRS), which was down nearly 20%. The surprise announcement landed just as memory leader Micron Technology (MU) faced heavy intraday scrutiny ahead of its massive post-market earnings call. Micron stock surged by 12% in after-hours trading. 
• Congress Passes Affordable Housing Bill, Fueling Homebuilder Surge: Domestic homebuilders and building materials providers surged after Congress passed a sweeping bipartisan affordable housing bill aimed at directly streamlining local zoning regulations and introducing significant tax incentives for new residential starts. The legislative development, paired with falling raw lumber and fuel inputs, pushed homebuilders deeply into the green even though President Donald Trump cancelled the bill signing. 

Economic Events/Data Thursday, June 25 (ET): 

• 08:30 AM: PCE Price Index (YoY & MoM) (May) 
• 08:30 AM: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (QoQ) (Q1 Final) 
• 08:30 AM: Durable Goods Orders (MoM) (May) 
• 08:30 AM: Initial & Continuing Jobless Claims (Weekly) 

Earnings Calendar Thursday, June 25 (ET):

Premarket 

• Darden Restaurants (DRI) 
• McCormick & Company (MKC) 
• Acuity Brands (AYI) 
• Commercial Metals Company (CMC) 
• Winnebago Industries (WGO) 
• BlackBerry Limited (BB) 

Postmarket 

• American Outdoor Brands (AOUT) 

This material is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered a personalized recommendation or investment advice. Investors should review investment strategies for their own particular situations before making any decisions.

Schwab Network is brought to you by Charles Schwab Media Productions Company (“CSMPC”). CSMPC is a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation and is not a financial advisor, registered investment advisor, broker-dealer, or futures commission merchant.

Charles Schwab Media Productions Company and all third parties mentioned are separate and unaffiliated, and are not responsible for one another's policies, services or opinions.

Data contained herein is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness, or reliability cannot be guaranteed. All events and times listed are subject to change without notice.