The Momentum Unwind Resumes: Your Next Move 7/7/26

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**Scott Wapner** (1:00)
I'm Scott Wapner and you're listening to Cnbc's Halftime Report, the podcast, the most profitable hour of the trading day. We record this live weekdays at 12 Eastern. Listen in.
Carl, thanks so much. Welcome to the Halftime Report. I'm Scott Wapner, front and center this hour, the latest on the momentum unwind. Many of those names are down sharply. Meantime, the Dow hitting a new record high before turning negative. Trading all of it with the Investment Committee, as always. Joining me for the hour, Joe Terranova, Stephanie Link, Rob Seachen, and Josh Brown. I'll show you the markets here. We have gone red across the board. Nasdaq is the weakest, as you might expect, with that momentum unwind yet again, or at least continuing after that bounce that we got yesterday.
7500 is right where the S&P sits. Micron, Intel, AMD, Marvell, all down significantly. We can show you some of those as we cycle through here. The AI power names, Vernova, Vertiv, Quanta, Eaton, also down. Caterpillar. Just keep showing these guys, because it really tells the story about what is happening here, Joe, as Goldman Sachs says, the character of this market has changed.

**Joe Terranova** (2:16)
I think it's a fight for leadership, and we talked about the momentum rebound yesterday. I think a lot of us questioned that that one day rebound was evidence that maybe a near-term bottom had been put in place. I think more deleveraging as it relates to the momentum factor is what lies ahead for all of us. I think it's semis. I think it's memory.
And I think the evidence to support that premise is the reaction to earnings for Samsung and for Micron. Classic examples of good news, bad price action. If you look at the chart, if we could pull up a chart of Micron, you will see the reported earnings on the afternoon of June 24th and the high for the stock is June 25th. We know what happened last night with Samsung.

**Scott Wapner** (2:59)
Samsung was good, right? Their profit was up 1800%.
Concerns about CapEx, concerns about demand seemed to be the issue today. The Kospi in Korea got smoked overnight, was down 5%. Momentum in the midst of its worst drawdown since the first quarter of 23

**Joe Terranova** (3:16)
So let me just, I think what happens now is as we move forward over the coming weeks into earnings, which the expectation is they will be good, the market tries to find leadership elsewhere. Don't be surprised if it finds it in the Mag-7 itself, but certainly I think semis and memory, they have a lower sideways consolidation period in front of them. It's noise, it's not a peak.

**Scott Wapner** (3:40)
Steph, the idea that the character of this market has changed, are you on board with that because it impacts a good handful of stocks that you've believed in as much, if not more, than any others, right? The AI power related names are all caught up in this momentum unwind.

**Stephanie Link** (3:57)
Yeah. I mean, I am encouraged that since June 22nd, when semis peaked, that healthcare is up 9%, financials up 6%, cyber security up 20%.

**Scott Wapner** (4:06)
New record, another record, right?

**Stephanie Link** (4:08)
So we have this rotation clearly.
But Micron and Samsung didn't say anything about demand waning. Micron secured $100 billion in contracts between now and the end of 2027 Samsung said very similar things, that demand is going to exceed supply well into 2027 It's just that these stocks have run really, really far. 19% of the S&P 500 is semiconductors. That's three times as much since 2022