Wall Street stocks flipped out Wednesday after someone inside the White House told CNBC that Trump might fire Jerome Powell as Fed chair. That single comment kicked off chaos.
The S&P 500 dropped hard at first, down 0.6%, before clawing its way back into the green once Trump denied the whole thing.
By the Closing Bell, the S&P 500 scraped out a tiny 0.1% gain. Nasdaq also managed to add 0.1% after tanking nearly 0.8% during the day. The Dow Jones did slightly better, up 162 points, or 0.3%, but that’s only after it was down more than 260 points earlier. Traders were stuck in limbo. Nobody knew whether to trust the official denial or brace for another bombshell.
“The markets would not like it if Powell was fired,” said Larry Tentarelli from Blue Chip Daily Trend Report. “It’s obviously a political hotbed… but overall, most of the big market participants that I know of think Powell has done a very good job.” Translation? If Trump pulls the trigger, stocks could get wrecked.
Semiconductor names drag down tech sector
Tech wasn’t safe either. Chip stocks started bleeding, and it wasn’t subtle. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF is now down 0.6% for the week and could snap a seven-week win streak. That would be its worst performance since its eight-week rally ended in March 2019.
ASML took the biggest hit. Shares were down 9.5% by midday Wednesday, already sitting 7% lower on the week. That’s ASML’s worst day since October 15, 2024, and its worst week since April. And the kicker? This came after the company beat both top- and bottom-line expectations in its second-quarter results. But the problem is what they said next: They don’t know if they’ll grow in 2026. Uncertainty like that makes investors run for the hills.
Other chip names got slammed too. Micron Technology, Marvell Technology, Monolithic Power Systems, Teradyne, and NXP Semiconductor all ended the day in the red. Nvidia, after printing an all-time high on Tuesday, cooled off a bit.
Shares slipped slightly, but the company is still pacing for its eighth straight weekly gain, up 3.4% this week. AMD followed suit with a strong 5% gain for the week so far, looking good for a second solid green close.
Meanwhile, bank earnings came in Tuesday, and they looked decent on paper. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America all beat expectations. But their stocks didn’t care. Every single one traded lower. The market clearly isn’t buying the narrative, or maybe it just didn’t matter with the Fed drama stealing the spotlight.
Bitcoin recovers, Ether starts to break out
While stocks whiplashed, crypto made a nasty dip before bouncing right back. Bitcoin crashed to $115,000 late Tuesday night after the House shot down a set of crypto bills. That vote was a slap to the face for anyone expecting clear rules in the near term. But by Wednesday, BTC was back at $122K. Traders didn’t wait around; they bought the dip instantly.
Ether, on the other hand, actually looked stronger than Bitcoin. It’s now broken out of a long-standing inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, which had been forming all year. Holding above the $2,870 breakout level gives it a target of $4,375. And it’s not just chart theory here. Momentum is blasting higher. ETH’s 14-day RSI jumped from the low 30s to the mid-70s in four weeks. In May, that number hit nearly 90 before things cooled down. So the move we’re seeing right now is sharp—and it’s real.
If ether keeps pushing and hits that $4,375 target, it’ll blow past its December 2023 highs and start testing the top of the 2021 cycle. That would complete a multi-year bullish base that’s been building on the monthly log chart.
Even more interesting? Ether’s been outperforming Bitcoin. Since the lows in April, BTC has climbed 60%. ETH? Up 130%.
