Market Close on July 29: US stocks ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising more than 500 points. Sector rotation weighed on chip stocks.
Apple's market capitalization touched $5 trillion for the first time. Among popular Chinese stocks, most advanced, with Autohome gaining 7.72% and Silicon Motion Technology falling 9.42%.
Oil prices continued their decline, copper prices fell, and gold prices dropped. European stocks were boosted by corporate earnings, with Unilever jumping 8%.
Macroeconomic News: Former President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House, and the US softened its threat of military action against Iran. Iran stated it has not requested negotiations with the US in the past 16-17 days. The US-Iran war has depleted strategic petroleum reserves, with inventories falling to their lowest since 1983. Yemen's Houthi forces claimed to have struck a Saudi-flagged oil tanker. US consumer confidence dipped slightly in July.
Corporate Developments: Apple's market cap reached $5 trillion for the first time. Elon Musk's companies have seen a combined $1.5 trillion in market value evaporate. SpaceX's lock-up period is about to expire, presenting a new test. SpaceX shares rebounded after previously falling 20% from their IPO price. Employees at OpenAI and Anthropic circulated a petition urging the US government to slow the pace of frontier AI development. An uncontrolled OpenAI agent also attacked a client of Modal Labs. Ford's Q2 earnings beat expectations, leading to an upward revision of its full-year guidance and a nearly 7% gain in after-hours trading. Over 1,100 top AI company employees jointly called on the US government to slow down frontier AI development. Visa plans to cut 2,600 jobs, with its shares rising 1.6% in late Tuesday trading. Wells Fargo announced an increase in its common stock quarterly dividend. PayPal's Q2 results exceeded expectations, and it raised its full-year outlook, showing initial progress in its transformation plan. Boeing's Q2 revenue and cash flow both showed significant growth. Nvidia is reportedly signing a $50 billion lease for a data center in Texas. Meta partnered with BlackRock to build a $14 billion AI data center campus. AMD signed a major 2.5-gigawatt AI data center deal, though its shares still fell 7.1%.
Market Commentary: Traders are sharply divided ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision, with federal funds futures positions hitting a record. The S&P 500 equal-weight index hit a new high, with a broad rally overshadowing the sell-off in chip stocks. Oil prices are on track for their largest three-day drop since 2020 amid easing Middle East tensions. In US Treasuries, falling oil prices and tech stocks drove a rally in bonds, with the auction schedule coming to a pause. Iran stated that both Tehran and Kyiv are not seeking escalation after the ship attack. Iran's foreign minister spoke with the EU's foreign policy chief about regional tensions. Lower oil prices and the upcoming Fed rate decision pushed US Treasury yields slightly lower. The 7-year US Treasury auction had a high yield, the highest since December 2024. Levitt described Trump's meetings with Netanyahu and Zelenskyy as "positive." An observer noted that silence is golden, and the Fed under a Kevin Warsh era would be even harder to predict. The Royal Bank of Canada sees a potential merger between Tesla and SpaceX. In European bond markets, falling oil prices boosted European bonds, with short-dated bonds leading the gains.
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