Also in Weekend Reads: Rough waters signaled by the bond market, hope for stocks amid earnings season and advice from the Moneyist
It is important to be specific and provide the relevant information when requesting financial advice.
At MarketWatch, there are several regular columns through which readers can have their financial questions answered. Many of these questions are about retirement planning and the complex decisions made during retirement - including where to live. When asking for advice, it is best to provide all of the relevant information.
Beth Pinsker writes the Fix My Portfolio column. This week she explained how to ask for financial advice effectively and linked to a new questionnaire that you can use to direct your question to a specific MarketWatch column.
Bond-market warnings
The market yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes BX:TMUBMUSD10Y is most commonly cited when investors discuss the direction of the bond market. But 30-year Treasury bonds BX:TMUBMUSD30Y have also been getting attention, with a yield of 5.17% early Friday, up from 4.85% at the end of 2025.
Joy Wiltermuth explained how Treasury bonds hit a milestone for the first time in 19 years.
More on rising interest rates:
-- The bull market faces higher likelihood of a Fed rate hike as Iran crisis intensifies
-- The rising cost of capital for companies today is starting to spook the stock market: 'The worry is the spending might not pay off'
-- Why fixing the housing crisis for under-40s could trigger 10% Treasury yields
Rising rates and the housing market
At the end of 2025, the weekly national average interest rate for 30-year fixed mortgage loans in the U.S. was 6.15%, according to Freddie Mac. The weekly national average 30-year rate dipped as low as 5.98% on Feb. 26 and then rose to the current national average rate of 6.58%.
Aarthi Swaminathan explained how rising interest rates have been affecting homeowners' plans.
A fascinating quarter for Alphabet
Google's holding company Alphabet posted impressive second-quarter numbers, but the stock fell 7% following that report.
Late on Wednesday Alphabet $(GOOGL)$ reported its second-quarter results, which included a 24% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue to $119.8 billion. Net income for the second quarter ballooned to $112.12 billion because it included $98 billion in unrealized gains on securities investments.
Alphabet's quarterly operating income came in at $40.77 billion, up from $31.27 billion for the year-earlier quarter.
But despite Alphabet seeing tremendous revenue growth and achieving its highest-ever quarterly operating profit, the stock fell 7% on Thursday. "[I]t feels like the road could be a bit bumpier in the near term as industry competition and capital ramp to once unimaginable heights," Michael Nathanson wrote in a note to MoffettNathanson Research clients on Thursday. He maintained his buy rating on the stock and added that it had been "fun and fulfilling" being bullish on Alphabet over the previous year, as the stock had risen 79% for one year through Wednesday.
Investors seem to be worried about the scope of the company's spending on infrastructure and acquisitions to support the development of generative artificial intelligence technology. This spending has been supported by the issuance of $20.3 billion in notes during the second quarter, and by the sale of common shares to raise another $49.6 billion.
Hannah Pedone explained how the company reported negative free cash flow for the first time and looked ahead at how Alphabet will keep spending heavily over coming quarters.
More earnings-season developments:
-- Verizon's stock rises as earnings show the company is no longer a 'hunting ground'
-- AT&T's stock rises toward best day in six months. Why investors are cheering the latest earnings.
-- American Express rides a boom in Platinum cards to its strongest spending growth in years
-- IBM just cut its outlook, but not by as much as investors feared
-- ServiceNow's stock falls as a new AI threat overshadows earnings beat
Big Tech: AMD's rivalry with Nvidia is increasingly moving into a new realm
A hot aerospace/defense stock
The announcement of a $35 billion contract with the Missile Defense Agency for its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile-interceptor system helped push Lockheed Martin's stock up 10.5% on July 23.
Even if they are pleased with a company's quarterly results, investors will be more excited by a rosy outlook. In the case of Lockheed Martin (LMT), new contracts, increased guidance and a record order backlog helped push the stock up 10.5% on Thursday.
A related stock screen: As defense spending surges, these stocks could make you the most money
Strong earnings may nix AI-bubble talk
Michael Brush listed various factors that could support a continuing bull market for technology stocks, while adding a warning about one particular Big Tech darling.
Taking advantage: Time to buy the dip in momentum stocks after a punishing July drawdown? Here's what history tells us.
How to work with a micromanager
Don't Short Yourself - MarketWatch's new weekly newsletter - offers smart tips to help you earn and grow your money.
In this week's Don't Short Yourself newsletter, Aditi Shrikant shared advice on how to work harmoniously with a micromanager.
More from Aditi Shrikant:
-- This 'incredibly disrespectful' interview habit could be costing Gen Z jobs
-- 'I never want to manage people again.' I'm 33. Should I leave my corporate leadership role to become an assistant?
-- I lost my job, my emergency fund is running out and now I have to move back in with my parents. What did I do wrong?
A strong, cheap stock-market sector
Here is a look at how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 have performed this year, excluding dividends, through Thursday. The full index is at the bottom:
Sector or index 2026 price change Forward P/E Forward P/E as of Dec. 31
Energy 32.7% 13.9 16.0
Industrials 17.3% 25.4 23.9
Information Technology 16.5% 22.2 26.7
Real Estate 12.3% 18.6 17.1
Materials 9.5% 17.3 19.0
Utilities 8.2% 18.3 17.9
Consumer Staples 6.5% 22.5 22.1
Healthcare 4.2% 18.7 18.6
Financials 1.9% 14.9 16.3
Communication Services -4.6% 16.7 22.3
Consumer Discretionary -8.1% 24.9 29.6
S&P 500 8.2% 19.7 22.2
Source: FactSet
The chart includes forward price-to-earnings ratios, which are Thursday's closing prices divided by consensus 12-month earnings-per-share estimates among analysts polled by FactSet, weighted by market capitalization.
You can see that the forward P/E ratios have declined for the full index and for six of the sectors, showing that EPS estimates have been increasing more quickly than share prices, notably in the energy and information technology sectors.
Christine Idzelis explained why the energy sector of the S&P 500 remains the cheapest, despite being so far in the lead this year.
Advice from the Moneyist
Quentin Fottrell is the Moneyist.
This week Quentin Fottrell - The Moneyist - answered questions from a credit-card borrower who would like to have her cake and eat it too.
More from Quentin Fottrell:
-- 'It's nothing personal': Should I tell my 96-year-old stepmother that I don't want her inheritance?
-- My second husband and I have children from previous relationships. Should my house go to him or my children if I die first?
-- Do I use $300,000 of my $1.2 million retirement savings so my daughter can attend her dream college?
Want more from MarketWatch? Sign up for this and other newsletters to get the latest news and advice on personal
-Philip van Doorn
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 24, 2026 11:42 ET (15:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments