Market Review: July 22, 2026

Closing Recap

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

U.S. stock markets finish lower as the Nasdaq Comp opened in negative territory and held there most of the day behind weakness in semis, software and large caps ahead of GOOGL and TSLA earnings tonight while the S&P 500 was choppy/little changed as strength in materials, energy and utilities help offset the weakness in consumer discretionary and REITs. A rare quiet week of economic data in the U.S. and no Fed speakers as they are in their “blackout period” ahead of next weeks FOMC meeting. While recent Fed comments have leaned to the more “hawkish” side, no changs to rates are expected next Wednesday. Overall, markets are holding up well despite a more than 20% jump in oil prices the last two weeks as the US/Iran ceasefire ended and entered into an 11^th day of attacks on key targets in Iran. Wall Street has also largely ignored the recent spike in Treasury yields as the 2-yr hit highest levels since Feb 2025. The dollar has climbed with the Japanese yen down at 40-year lows (will BoJ intervene soon?) A quiet day of trading as investors await earnings results in tech tonight with GOOGL, TSLA, IBM, NOW and TXN.

• Weekly oil inventory data was bearish as the EIA said U.S. crude and fuel stocks rose last week, as crude inventories rose by 2 million barrels to 411.7 million barrels in the week compared with analysts’ expectations for a 1.1 million-barrel draw. U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 765,000 barrels in the week to 211.3 million barrels, vs expectations for a 1.5 million-barrel draw.​
• Treasury yields continue to creep higher as the two-yr U.S. Treasury yield reaches 4.3105%, highest since February 2025. @KobeissiLetter noted on X, “The US 30Y Note Yield has now traded above 5.00% for the longest stretch since 2007. So far this year, the 30Y Note Yield has traded above 5.00% for 27 days, or ~19% of all trading sessions.” The 10-year yield topped 4.65%
• Gold prices rose sharply for a second day, up $75.50 or +1.85%, at $4,151.90 an ounce, at its highest level in two weeks helped by a softer dollar and technical buying, as markets weighed signs of lingering tensions in the Middle East and awaited fresh cues on U.S. interest rates from the Federal Reserve. September Silver gains $1.19, or +2.01%, at $60.30 an ounce. The U.S. dollar index softened, making greenback-priced bullion more affordable for buyers overseas.

• Food sector: CALM shares fell early after quarterly results miss; Q4 EPS loss (-$0.76) vs. est. $0.08; Q4 revs $552.58M vs. est. $563.8M; said prepared foods production capacity projected to increase over 60% from FY2026 to FY2028; said will not pay cash dividend for Q4. Casual dining stocks all got hit this afternoon (CAVA, BROS, CMG, YUM, SG, WEN, EAT, etc.) after late day headline that the FDA reports new outbreak of cyclospora linked to a not yet identified product.
• Footwear Apparel: Bernstein said Foot traffic trends are sequentially improving, web traffic has accelerated broadly but observed sales trends vary by brand. NKE and ADDYY both showed improvement in foot traffic in June, with the overall Sportswear sector also improving sequentially, likely driven by the World Cup. ONON trends have improved, and emerging brands Alo and Vuori are still outperforming on growth, although traffic trends are becoming more uneven as they mature. Meanwhile, Nike trends remain negative, declines continue to worsen at LULU and DECK trends have decelerated to flat/slightly negative.

• Energy stocks benefit again from a further rise in oil prices; EQT shares jumped after Q2 production and free cash flow were 5% and 46% above consensus, respectively, while its new power and midstream agreements continue to de-risk Appalachian growth; oil refiners again making new 52-week highs with MPC, PBF, DINO, DK among leaders in energy. Inutilities, SO shares rallied after Georgia Power said it will provide electric service to OpenAI’s planned data center project in Effingham County, Georgia, under a 25-year agreement.

• Bank sector: NTRS Q2 revs rose 35% y/y to $2.71B beating $2.42B estimate on better EPS helped by Visa exchange offer gain and raised quarterly dividend by 10%; said revenue growth was supported by robust fee growth and double-digit net interest income growth of $683M (vs. est. $659M).
• Credit rating sector: MCO Q2 revs +19% y/y to $2.19B vs. est. $2.08B and adj EPS beat at $4.68 while reaffirms full-year 2026 revenue growth guidance in high-single digit percent range and narrows full-year 2026 adjusted diluted EPS guidance to $16.50-$17.00
• Brokers & Exchanges: CME Q2 adj EPS of $3.00, beating the average analyst estimate of $2.91, but fell from $3.36 in Q1 while revenue of $1.71B, topped the $1.68B consensus; Q2 clearing and transaction fees dropped to $1.35B from $1.54B in Q1 and $1.39B y/y; Average daily volume of 29.8M contracts, its 3^rd highest quarterly ADV, declined from 36.2M contracts in Q1 and 30.2M y/y.
• Consumer Finance: COF credit card delinquencies continue to come in better than seasonality and both DQs and NCOs came in lower y/y; NCOs also came in better than expected. Both card and auto loan growth was stronger than expected and accelerated y/y sequentially. Auto DQs were in-line while NCOs were better.
• Insurance sector: CB shares fell after reported a largely in-line Q226, with growth and underwriting margins broadly in-line but Cantor said the quarter reinforced that the company remains more exposed to large account business than peers. Cantor thinks the read-through extends well beyond Chubb, highlighting that primary property pricing remains under considerable pressure despite meaningful capacity withdrawal, with early signs that softness is beginning to spill into casualty.

• Generic drug sector (TEVA, AMRX, VTRS): President Trump announced new tariffs on generic drugs imports, up to 200%, effective from Aug-1. The announcement comes amidst China’s expanding role within Pharma and a broader focus on strengthening the US supply chain. Goldman Sachs said the tariffs could lead to deals among companies and with countries in exchange for carve-outs or exemptions as favor Buy-rated AMRX and TEVA and Neutral-rated VTRS.
• ARWR said phase 3 SHASTA-3 and SHASTA-4 studies of Plozasiran in severe Hypertriglyceridemia met primary endpoints. In SHASTA-3 and SHASTA-4, 25 mg Plozasiran administered as a subcutaneous injection once every three months led to median triglyceride reductions of 79% and 81%, respectively, at month 12, versus a placebo reduction of ~27%.
• CLDX said its experimental drug barzolvolimab failed in a Phase 2 study in the skin condition prurigo nodularis; is continuing to test the drug in a number of other indications, with data expected in September or October from Phase 3 trials in chronic spontaneous urticaria.
• DYN priced an upsized public stock offering, raising about $375M through the sale of 18.3M shares at $20.50 each, up from its initially proposed $300M raise.
• ISRG, MDT shares fell after JNJ announced the FDA authorization for its Ottava Surgical Robot, marking its entry into the U.S. robotic soft-tissue Surgery market
• NKTR announced the initiation of the Ph3 ZENITH atopic dermatitis (AD) program, an incremental positive that marks an important execution milestone for rezpeg.
• RGEN said it would buy BLFS in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $1.5B, to expand its presence in the fast-growing cell therapy market; BioLife shareholders will receive $11.25 in cash and 0.1442 shares of Repligen for each share, valuing the cell-and-gene-therapy maker at $31 per share.
• RPRX acquires a portion of Neurimmune’s royalty interest in cliramitug for up to $425 million, with an additional $125 million cash payment to Neurimmune scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.
• SMMT released updated survival data from its Phase 3 HARMONi trial testing the drug ivonescimab in a form of non-small cell lung cancer. The FDA is set to make an approval decision on the drug in the disease by Nov. 14. 

• Trailers/RVs: Davidson noted ACT Research released June US trailer-industry data, which is an important read-through for WNC. Orders were down 9% Y/Y in the month, and shipments were up 16% Y/Y. It was the second consecutive month of Y/Y backlog increases after 36 months of declines. Shipments were up 4% Y/Y in 2Q, well ahead of our estimates.

• Neoclouds/AI: OpenAI raises projected Cloud spending to $750B, up from $600B, the WSJ reported this morning. Further, OpenAI plans to spend over $30B on a new 3.2-gigawatt data center near Savannah, Georgia, Bloomberg News reported. CRWV was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Truist saying growing adoption of open models and sovereign AI should broaden demand beyond large hyperscaler customers.
• In Internet: the WSJ reported RDDT is considering cutting off GOOGL access to its content for AI use as its $60M annual licensing deal nears expiration. Other publishers are also reevaluating Google’s crawler as AI summaries erode referral traffic with USA Today reportedly down ~50% the last year.
• In Telecom: AT&T (T) posted mixed Q2 results as EPS beat/revs miss but Q2 432,000 postpaid phone net adds topped estimates of 338,500 additions; posted record broadband additions, with 367,000 new fiber internet users and 279,000 fixed wireless subscribers due to bundling.

• Software movers: PEGA shares tumbled after results as Q2 adj EPS $0.35 missed consensus est $0.43 on revs rose 09% y/y to $420.7Mm but vs est $426.24Mm; saw Pega Cloud ACV rise 22% yr/yr, but AI market changes slowed overall ACV growth. MNDY initiates restructuring plan affecting ~20% of workforce; Estimates $45-55M charges; Raises FY26 non-GAAP operating margin to ~15% (prior: ~13%). NOW is expected to report earnings tonight after the close.
• IT Services & Consulting: DOCN was upgraded from Hold to Buy at Stifel and raised tgt from $135 to $160 with the stock down ~30% from recent highs and several incremental positive data points over the past week, including today’s GPU price increases that should support Rev/MW in the mid-to-high teens, and the recent debt-for-equity conversion that frees up financing for future capacity.
• Communications & Networking: ADTN shares tumbled after guides Q2 EPS $0.3-$0.05 below est $0.13 and cuts Q2 revenue view to $280M-$282M from $283M-$303M (est. $294M); said it sees Q3 revenue $275M-$295M, below consensus $300.34M, sees Q3 operating margin 1.5%-5.5%.

• AMD announced a partnership with Anthropic and said it will invest up to $5 billion in the AI company. As part of the deal, Anthropic will deploy 2 gigawatts of the AMD Instinct MI450 Series GPUs in AMD Helios rack-scale solutions.
• CBRS shares rise after partnered with CRWD for its Falcon Ai Detection and Response platform using Cerebras’ Ai inference technology; said the partnership is aimed at improving the speed of Ai-driven threat detection and response as cyberattacks become more sophisticated and faster.
• QCOM and Samsung are deepening their partnership to deliver Snapdragon-powered AI experiences across the Galaxy ecosystem.
• SKHY shares fell after the co denied a report that it would acquire an INTC plant.
• TXN to report earnings after the close tonight.