Nvidia took the PC stage. Intel got burned. Records roll on.
June opened the way May closed — with major indices trading near record highs and the AI trade leading. ISM Manufacturing leaped to 54.0, the highest in four years. Nvidia unveiled its new RTX Spark AI PC chip, sending NVDA, Dell and HP higher while Intel and AMD sold off as the chip-stack power balance shifted. The bond panic from May is fading in tone. Here’s what mattered Monday.
🤖 Nvidia’s RTX Spark — the chip war just got bigger
The headline of the session. At Computex/GTC Taipei, Nvidia unveiled RTX Spark, its new AI-focused PC processor platform aimed directly at AI PCs and Windows laptops/desktops. Dell and HP were highlighted as launch partners.
The market reaction split the chip stack cleanly:
- Nvidia: rallied — extending its 2026 gains
- Dell, HP Inc: rose sharply — AI-PC partnership exposure
- Intel: sold off — losing ground in chips it once dominated
- AMD: also sold off — caught in the same competitive squeeze
The AI infrastructure trade has been broadening since Snowflake’s $6B AWS deal — but Monday escalated it from data centers to consumer PCs. That’s a much bigger total addressable market and a direct strike at the legacy x86 franchise. The market voted: the new platform wins, the legacy platform loses.
🏭 ISM Manufacturing at a 4-year high — but with caveats
The hard data delivered a clear upside surprise:
- ISM Manufacturing PMI: 54.0 (vs ~53.0–53.2 expected)
- Up from April’s 52.7 — 5 consecutive months of expansion
- Highest reading since May 2022
- New Orders: 56.8 — strongest leading indicator
- Prices Paid: 82.1 — easing but still very hot
But the print wasn’t universally clean. Employment came in at 48.6 — still below 50, meaning hiring in manufacturing is still contracting. Reuters noted some strength may reflect firms rushing orders and building inventories amid supply-chain and geopolitical concerns, rather than purely organic end-demand growth.
The takeaway: the latest data challenges the slowdown narrative that briefly dominated markets in May, though the employment and inflation components suggest the economy isn’t entirely out of the woods. AI-related investment looks like a major contributor to the rebound — but it’s not the only force at work.
🏆 Records continue — but breadth is narrow
US indices traded near and at record highs Monday — but the leadership is thin:
- Major indices broadly higher, with Tech and Energy doing the lifting
- Most other sectors closed flat-to-down
- The Mag 7 — especially Nvidia — is doing most of the work again
That’s not the broad rotation we saw mid-May — it’s narrow, tech-led momentum. Breadth has narrowed back to AI/infrastructure leadership.
📊 Monday snapshot
- US indices: trading near/at record highs
- NVDA, Dell, HP: higher on the RTX Spark launch
- Intel, AMD: lower on competitive repricing
- ISM Manufacturing: 54.0 — highest since May 2022
- ISM Employment: 48.6 — still below the expansion line
- ISM Prices Paid: 82.1 — eased but remains hot
- Oil: advanced despite Iran headlines
📅 The week ahead — Jobs Week
- Tue: JOLTS (April) · Ulta, Palo Alto Networks, Dollar General, GitLab earnings
- Wed: ISM Services PMI · ADP private payrolls (preview of Friday)
- Thu: Jobless claims · productivity · Broadcom, CrowdStrike earnings
- Fri ⚡: NFP (May nonfarm payrolls) + unemployment — the binary
Broadcom’s print Thursday and NFP Friday define how this week ends. Broadcom is the most anticipated earnings of the week — consensus expects ~$22B revenue (+47% YoY), with AI semis roughly half the total. If Broadcom confirms what Nvidia, Dell and Snowflake have signaled, the AI capex narrative gets another leg of support.
🧠 Bottom line
Three signals converged Monday, and they point the same way: Nvidia broke into PCs, escalating the chip war to a bigger market; manufacturing is firmer than expected, with ISM at four-year highs even with caveats; and records continue, but breadth is narrowing back to tech.
The pattern from late May continues — macro warnings get absorbed by the strength of AI-related capex and earnings. But the ISM employment subindex still showing contraction is a real flag worth watching. That’s exactly the kind of crack Friday’s NFP could either confirm or dispel.
Narrow breadth + overbought conditions + NFP Friday + an unresolved Iran picture means the next leg up needs confirmation, not just momentum. The chip war got bigger. Friday’s jobs report picks the next chapter.