Morning Preview: July 23, 2026

Early Look

Thursday, July 23, 2026

U.S. futures are looking lower as a further spike in oil prices is boosting inflation concerns, sending Treasury yields higher across the board and pressuring interest rate hike fears ahead of next week’s FOMC meeting (ECB policy decision later this morning – no change expected). At the same time, tech sector looking mixed with Tesla and Alphabet (GOOGL) earnings pressuring shares, with both down notably overnight. Oil prices extended their gains, with Brent crude futures topping $98, after reports of attacks on tankers off the coast of Saudi Arabia and the U.S. renewed threats to escalate strikes against Iran. Brent crude futures are on course for a monthly gain of 33.7%, its third-biggest monthly jump in the past 10 years. In Ai space, GOOGL posted top and bottom line beats, but shares fell as the company raised its 2026 capex forecast to $195-$205B, citing need for more AI capacity, it previously expected to spend between $180-$190B this year. The spending on AI a boost for the AI supply chains with semis/opticals/data centers, etc. Analog semi stocks are weaker as STM and TXN shares tumble on guidance. Software getting an early bounce as NOW earnings/guidance lift shares. Defense stocks LMT and RTX looking strong early after both reported earnings. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index advanced 307 points to 66,422, the Shanghai Index rose 9 points to 3,876, and the Hang Seng Index jumped 318 points to 25,210. In Europe, the German DAX is down -182 points to 24,972, while the FTSE 100 is down -18 points to 10,698. Overnight/morning earnings winners thus far: winners CSX, LMT, MEDP, NOW, RTX, URI and decliners GOOGL, TSLA, CYH, TXN, STM, ROL.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid -6.06 points, or 0.01%, to 52,218.58
• The Nasdaq Composite dropped -146.30 points, or 0.57%, to 25,690.90
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -27.46 points, or 0.92% to 2,959.93

• 8:30 AM ET                  Continuing Claims…est. 1.807M
• 8:30 AM ET                  National Activity index for June
• 10:30 AM ET                Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventory Data
• 11:00 AM ET                Kansas City Fed Manufacturing for July

• Earnings After the Close: ABCB AMTB APPF ASB ATRC BFST BY BYD COLB CUBI DECK DLR EBC ENVA EW FIBK FISI FRST GBCI HIG INTC JAKK KN KNSL MRTN MXL NEM ORC OVV PECO PINE REXR RNG SAM SAP SCHL SIGI SKYW SLM SSB SSNC USCB UVE VRSN WKC WSFS

• Las Vegas Sands (LVS) Q2 adj EPS $0.59 vs est $0.75, adj EBITDA $1.12B vs est $1.222B on revs $3.154B vs est $3.332B; Q2 net income falls -28% to $373M; said unusually low hold in rolling play in Macao negatively impacted reported results.
• Leslie Pools (LESL) shares tumbled overnight after Bloomberg reported the company considers potential Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.
• Nestle (NSRGY) posted better-than-expected Q2 organic sales growth and saying it expects slightly higher FY organic sales; expects to raise around €3 billion ($3.43 billion) from spinning off its water business into a 50-50 joint venture with U.S. investment firm Platinum Equity.
• Rollins Inc. (ROL) Q2 Adj. EPS $0.32 vs est. $0.34; Rev $1.10B vs est. $1.09B; Adj. EBIT $209.9Mm (19.5% margin) vs est $225.02Mm; Adj. EBITDA $236.3Mm vs est. $256.4Mm (21.9% margin); resi pest Ctrl softness drove miss; lead volume recovery late-June into early July, Co. remains cautious near-term.
• Southwest Airlines (LUV) Q2 adj EPS $0.94 vs. est. $0.52; Q2 revs $8.4B vs. est. $8.58B; guides Q3 adj EPS $0.50-$0.75 below consensus of $0.82; Q2 operating expenses +16.1% y/y to $8.1B; Q2 fuel cost was $3.92 per gallon, below prior assumptions of $4.10 to $4.15 per gallon; sees FY26 adjusted EPS $3.25-$4.25 compared to prior view of “at least $4.00
• Wyndham Hotels (WH) Q2 adj EPS $1.48 vs. est. $1.41; Q2 revs $375M vs. est. $400.8M; Q2 adj Ebitda rises 9% y/y to $212M vs. est. $205.9M; raises FY26 adjusted EPS view to $4.71-$4.83 from $4.62-$4.80 (est. $4.80) and boosts FY26 revenue view to $1.48B-$1.5B from $1.47B-$1.5B.

• Kinder Morgan (KMI) Q2 adj EPS $0.37 vs. est. $0.31; Q2 revs $4.48Bvs. est. $4.19B helped by higher volumes of natural gas transported through its pipelines; raises quarterly dividend 2% to 29.75c per share; backs FY26 adjusted EPS view $1.36, vs. consensus $1.49; backlog at end of q2 2026 was $9.6B; expects to be over 5% favorable to budget on adj ebitda basis, over 12% favorable to budget on adj eps for 2026.

• Brown & Brown (BRO) will deploy Anthropic’s Claude company-wide to approximately 23,000 employees, working with Anthropic, McKinsey and Accenture. Claude will support customer service, operations and software development across the organization.
• Cathay General (CATY) Q2 EPS $1.37 vs. est. $1.35; Q2 revs $221.2M vs. est. $218.04M; Q2 Net interest margin increased to 3.48% in Q2 from 3.43% in Q1; Loan growth was led by commercial and commercial real estate loans, while deposit growth was driven by non-interest-bearing and NOW deposits.
• Globe Life (GL) Q2 revs rose 7% to $1.3B; Q2 Total premium revenue rose 7% y/y, with life premium up 3% and health premium up 16%; raises FY26 EPS view to $15.55-$15.95 from $14.95-$15.65 (est. $15.65); Average producing agent count increased 8% at Liberty National and 7% at Family Heritage, supporting higher sales.
• Raymond James (RJF) Q3 adj EPS $3.14 vs est $2.91 on revs $3.93B vs est $3.875B, domestic private client group net new assets $21.7B, net bank loans $56.2B, client assets under admin $1.92T.
• RenaissanceRe Holdings (RNR) Q2 adj EPS $12.92 vs. est. $11.52; Q2 revs $2.77B vs. est. $2.39B; Q2 annualized return on average common equity of 24.0% and annualized operating return on average common equity of 20.1%; Q2 gross written premiums $2.99B and net premiums written $2.28B; Q2 combined ratio at 72.8%.

• Medpace Holdings (MEDP) Q2 EPS $4.25 vs est $3.97, EBITDA $153.4Mm vs est $147.5Mm on revs $707.3Mm vs est $687.65Mm; guides FY revs $2.805-2.885B vs est $2.778B, EBITDA $618-642Mm vs est $616.6Mm and EPS $17.25-17.95 vs est $16.97.
• Molina Healthcare (MOH) Q2 Adj. EPS $1.51 vs est. $1.39; Rev $10.87B; Premium Rev $10.24B vs est $10.794B; EBIT $145Mm VS EST $143.87mM; Medicaid MCR 92.7%; sees FY Adj. EPS ≥$5.25 (incl. ~$1.50/shr FL Medicaid contract drag in Q4) vs est $5.156 and FY Premium Revs ~$42B vs est $44.355B.
• Verastem Oncology (VSTM) announced that the first patient has been dosed in the TARGET-D 202 Phase 2 registration-directed trial evaluating VS-7375, an investigational oral KRAS G12D inhibitor, in patients with previously treated KRAS G12D-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer

• CSX Corp (CSX) shares rise on results; Q2 EPS $0.54 vs. est .$0.52; Q2 revs rose 10% y/y to $3.94B vs. est. $3.9B; Q2 total volume of 1.68M units was 6% higher y/y; Q2 volume increased 6% with broad-based growth across markets led by 9% intermodal growth; Q2 operating income up 17%, operating margin expanded 240 bps to 38.3%.
• Dow Inc. (DOW) Q2 operating EPS $1.44 vs. est. $1.28; Q2 revenue $12.09B vs. consensus $12.03B; Expect to generate approximately $200M more in benefits from transform to outperform this year; expects in-year benefits from ‘Transform to Outperform’ to exceed $1.3B in 2026.
• Honeywell (HON) Q2 adj EPS $4.52 vs. est. $4.81; Q2 sales $9.7B vs. est. $9.506B; Q2 organic growth 4%; Operating margin of 17.9% and segment margin1 of 23.1% and orders up 4% leading to ~$38 billion backlog; raises year outlook.
• Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) Q2 EPS $5.72 vs est $2.48, adj EBITDA $166Mm vs es T$99.51Mm; FY26 guidance raised – Conv. Rev high end +10%–+15% YoY, Adj. EBITDA +45%–+55% YoY.
• Knight-Swift (KNX) Q2 adj EPS $0.63 vs. est. $0.51 and revs $2.096B vs. est. $2.04B; guides Q3 adj EPS $0.71-$0.77 vs. est. $0.70; sees FY26 capex $600M-$650M.
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) Q2 sales $20.1B vs. est. $19.344B; Q2 free cash flow $2.900B; Q2 backlog $230.42B, up 38.3% from $166.5B last year; raises FY outlook EPS to about $29.95-$30.65 vs prior forecast $29.35-$30.25 and raises sales view to $79.75B-$81.75B from $77.5B-$80B.
• Reliance (RS) Q2 EPS $6.27 vs. est. $5.47; Q2 sales rose 26.5% to $4.63B vs. est. $4.25B; Q2 pretax income climbed 41.2% from a year earlier to $429M; Q2 tons sold increased 10.8% y/y to 1,790,000; average selling price per ton rose 14.5% to $2,602; guides Q3 EPS $6.40-$6.60 vs. est. $5.24.
• RTX Cop. (RTX) Q2 adj EPS $1.89 vs. est. $1.66; Q2 revs $24.71B vs. est. $22.88B; reports company backlog of $289B, including $170B of commercial and $119B of defense; raises FY26 adjusted EPS view to $7.10-$7.25 from $6.70-$6.90 (est. $6.92) and ups FY26 revenue view to $95B-$96B from $92.5B-$93.5B (est. $94.1B).
• Sonoco (SON) Q2 adj EPS $1.51 vs. est. $1.47; Q2 sales $1.89B vs. est. $1.88B; maintaining FY annual adjusted eps guidance of $5.80 to $6.20 per diluted share and continuing to expect results toward the low end of the range (est. $5.84) and guides FY sales view to $7.25B0$7.75B vs. est. $7.45B.
• United Rentals (URI) Q2 adj. EPS $12.76 vs. est. $11.54; Rev $4.41B vs. est. $4.22B; Rental Rev $3.85B; Adj. EBITDA $2.056B (46.6% mgn) vs est $1.92B; fleet productivity +3.4%; YTD FCF $1.149B; YTD capital returns $998Mm; net leverage 1.8x; FY26 guidance raised – Rev $17.5B–$17.8B vs est $17.267B, Adj. EBITDA $7.975B–$8.125B vs est $7.808B.
• Waste Connections (WCN) Q2 adj EPS $1.50 vs. est. $1.36; Q2 revs $2.56B vs. est. $2.53B; Q2 revenue growth was driven by price increases, with solid waste yield up 4.6% and surcharges contributing 1.1%; raises FY2026 sales guidance from $9.900B-$9.950B to $10.020B-$10.050B vs est. $9.98B; expects 2026 net income of $1.169B-$1.173B and capex of about $1.25B with adj Ebitda $3.33B-$3.34B.

• Comcast (CMCSA) Q2 adj EPS $1.04 vs. est. $0.97; Q2 revs $29.94B vs. est. $29.26B; Q2 peacock paid subscribers increased by 2M net additions to 48M; Q2 domestic broadband customer net losses 167,000 vs est. 165,300 losses and Q2 domestic wireless line adds 448,000 vs. est. 391,100 additions
• IBM Corp. (IBM) Q2 Adj. EPS $2.93 vs est. $2.97; Rev $17.16B vs est. $17.58B; GM 57.7%; Software $7.8B (+5%), Consulting $5.33B (flat), Infra $3.8B (-7%; mainframe -42%, Dist. Infra +37%); Red Hat +11%; FY const currency rev guide cut to 4%-5% (from >5%) vs est +4.79%; FY FCF +~$1B YoY maintained; div. $1.69/shr; prelim pre-announced July 14.
• Intel (INTC) and AMD (AMD) sign long-term server CPU deals with Chinese clients as prices surge, Reuters reported. Intel, AMD seek longer China server CPU supply commitments; Ai data-centre boom strains supply beyond GPUs into mainstream processors; China server CPU prices up more than 40% this year for some products.
• Nokia Corp. (NOK) net sales EU4.815B vs est. EU4.823B; Q2 comparable operating profit EU434M vs est. EU382M; Q2 network infrastructure net sales grew 12% y-o-y on a constant currency basis, led by optical networks growing 20%; for Q3 sees 3% to 7% q-o-q increase in net sales.
• ServiceNow (NOW) Q2 adj EPS $0.90 vs. est. $0.86; Q2 revs rose 24% y/y to $3.987B vs. est. $3.93B; aid sales were boosted by strong demand from the U.S. federal government, which accelerated some on-premise subscription revenues; guides Q3 subscription revs $3.98B vs. est. $4.01B but raises FY sub sales to be $15.76B-$15.78B from prior view $15.74B-$15.78B (est. $15.75B)
• STMicroelectronics (STM) shares slide as Q2 results topped expectations at $0.31/$3.49B vs. $0.27/$3.47B consensus, but guided Q3 revs around $3.7B, below the $3.78B consensus while expects a gross margin of 37%, plus or minus 200 basis points; now expects revenues from its data center to be above $1B
• Texas Instruments (TXN) Q2 EPS $2.14 vs est $1.93 on revs $5.46B vs est $5.25B; guides Q3 revs $5.365-6.15B vs est $5.63B and EPS $2.23-2.57 vs est $2.18.
• Crown Castle (CCI) Q2 adj FFO/SHR $1.13 vs est $0.99 on revs $967Mm vs est $996.95Mm; guides FY adj EBITDA $2.69B vs est $2.724B and adj FFO/SHR $4.59 vs est $4.40.
• Progress Software (PRGS) announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets and assume certain liabilities of Domo (DOMO), including its AI and data products platform. Domo will add a customer base of over 2,400 businesses, as well as a global and strategic ecosystem of cloud data warehouse for $400M.