Ringside · Post-Bell · August 3
- Blue chips notched a fresh peak, the Dow ending at 53,178.41.
- WTI settled at $80.34, down 5.1%, as Washington chose talks over an air strike.
- Palantir booked $1.94 billion of revenue against $1.81 billion expected; shares rose near 10% late.
Indexes
A weekend of diplomacy moved this market more than any earnings report has all quarter. President Trump halted a planned strike on Iran and asked for talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, West Texas Intermediate settled 5.1% lower at $80.34, and the ten-year Treasury yield gave back six basis points to 4.686%. Cheaper energy and an easier long end are the two conditions megacap technology spent July without, and the group took them: Microsoft (MSFT) added 4.93% to $487.65, Meta Platforms (META) 6.02% to $590.24 and Oracle (ORCL) 9.22% to $141.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 53,178.41, a record close, past its previous record of 53,055.91 on July 6, and the Nasdaq Composite led the majors with a 2.13% gain. The S&P 500 ended 9.28 points under its June 2 closing high of 7,609.78.
| Index | Close | % Chg | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,600.50 | +1.48% | |
| Nasdaq Composite | 25,913.90 | +2.13% | Still under its 50-day average |
| Dow Jones | 53,178.41 | +1.32% | Past its July 6 peak |
| Russell 2000 | 2,981.91 | +1.73% |
Sector Heat Map
Eight of the eleven sectors finished higher.
| Sector | ETF | % Chg |
|---|---|---|
| Communication Services | XLC | +2.86% |
| Industrials | XLI | +1.85% |
| Consumer Discretionary | XLY | +1.83% |
| Technology | XLK | +1.53% |
| Materials | XLB | +1.15% |
| Financials | XLF | +0.77% |
| Real Estate | XLRE | +0.24% |
| Utilities | XLU | +0.02% |
| Health Care | XLV | -0.19% |
| Consumer Staples | XLP | -0.22% |
| Energy | XLE | -1.28% |
Communication services led on Meta and Alphabet, industrials carried the airlines and the machinery names, and energy was the only group to shed more than a percent. Staples and health care, the two places money hides, both slipped.
In the News
Rates, FX, Commodities
| Treasuries | Close | Chg | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-Year | 4.400% | -5 bp | |
| 10-Year | 4.686% | -6 bp | Back under 4.70% |
| 30-Year | 5.231% | -4 bp | Still north of 5.20% |
| Commodity | Close | % Chg | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| WTI crude | $80.34 | -5.11% | OPEC+ adds 188,000 bpd in September |
| Brent crude | $83.77 | -4.70% | |
| Natural gas | $2.769 | +0.33% |
| Currency | Level | % Chg |
|---|---|---|
| Dollar index (DXY) | 99.956 | +0.22% |
| EUR/USD | 1.1513 | -0.13% |
| USD/JPY | 157.171 | -0.15% |
Both crude benchmarks are exchange settlements taken from Reuters rather than the later screen quote. The front of the Treasury curve moved a good deal less than crude did, which reads as a bond market content to wait for Friday's payrolls report before it revisits September.
Technicals
The index has put real distance between itself and its own averages. A 7,600.50 print on the S&P 500 stands 116 points clear of the 20-day at 7,484.30 and 126 clear of the 50-day at 7,474.86, two lines separated by less than ten points. The Nasdaq Composite's advance to 25,913.90 still left it 27 points beneath its 50-day average of 25,941.29, which is the plainest measure of what technology surrendered in July. The Russell 2000 at 2,981.91 cleared both its 20-day (2,958.38) and 50-day (2,946.78).
On the curve, the ten-year at 4.686% took back six of the basis points it added last week on the way to 4.75%, its highest close since January 2025. The thirty-year at 5.231% recovered four.
Breakouts & Breakdowns
Breakouts
Amazon (AMZN) — Closed at $284.02, the highest close of the past year, above the $274.99 of May 6. The 20-day average at $245.85 is nearly forty dollars behind it.
Microsoft (MSFT) — $487.65 is the best close since 26 December. The 200-day average at $433.45 sits 11% under the price, and the autumn peak of $542.07 sits 11% over it.
Breakdowns
Apple (AAPL) — A second consecutive decline took it to $303.42, widening the gap below the 50-day average at $309.52 that opened on Friday. The 200-day at $278.24 is the next shelf underneath.
Marriott International (MAR) — A close of $346.83 puts it under both the 20-day at $370.96 and the 50-day at $378.48. What remains below is the 200-day at $335.45.
Top Movers
Gainers
Oracle (ORCL) rose 9.22% to $141.85, a close confirmed on three separate feeds. The move extends last week's agreement to put Alphabet's Gemini models into Oracle Fusion Applications and NetSuite. That leaves it 23% above the $114.99 low of July 24 and 57% below its September 2025 high of $328.33.
Meta Platforms (META) added 6.02% to $590.24 and closed above the $585.61 it held before the July 30 earnings drop, erasing that gap in three sessions. July's selling was about the capital-spending guide, and cheaper money makes a large building programme easier to underwrite. It still trades under all three main averages, the 50-day at $601.89 nearest.
United Airlines (UAL) climbed 5.82% to $128.39, with Delta Air Lines (DAL) up 4.75% at $91.59 and American Airlines (AAL) up 5.04% at $16.04. Cheaper jet kerosene reaches an airline's income statement slowly, through hedges and fixed contracts, which is why the shares reprice on the day and the accounts take quarters.
Amazon (AMZN) rose 4.58% to $284.02, a second session of gains stacked on Friday's 15.3% earnings jump.
Losers
Marriott International (MAR) fell 6.97% to $346.83 on four times its usual volume. Adjusted earnings of $3.19 a share beat expectations and management raised the full-year global RevPAR target to 3%–3.5% from 2%–3%, but revenue missed and third-quarter guidance of $2.74 to $2.82 undershot the $2.87 analysts carried. Revenue per available room in the Middle East fell 43% as the war closed the region to travel, pulling the wider EMEA region down more than 5%.
GameStop (GME) dropped 12.25% to $19.06, its lowest close of the past year. The company will exchange $1.4 billion of zero-coupon convertible notes due 2030 and 2032 for Class A stock, which clears the debt without spending cash and enlarges the share count in the process. GameStop also warned that participating noteholders may short the shares to hedge. That warning is standard language in an exchange offer; it was not read as standard.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) lost 2.80% to $55.47, the weakest of the large domestic producers on a day when the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) fell 1.28% to $58.79.
Macro Calendar
Manufacturing surprised to the upside.
| Release | Consensus | Prior | Actual |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISM Manufacturing (Jul) | 54.0 | 53.3 | 55.6 |
| ISM Prices Paid (Jul) | 70.3 | 73.0 | 71.1 |
The headline is the strongest since May 2022 and marks a seventh straight month of expansion. Prices paid came down 1.9 points from June but held above consensus, and the ISM notes that raw-materials costs have now risen for 22 consecutive months. For the three regional bank presidents who voted to raise rates last week, that second line is the whole of the case.
Notable Earnings This Session
Pre-Open
Marriott International, covered above, and Tyson Foods (TSN), which rose 2.85% to $59.61.
Post-Close
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) closed the regular session at $125.65, a gain of 2.10%, then posted revenue of $1.94 billion against consensus near $1.81 billion and adjusted earnings of $0.41 a share. Full-year revenue guidance moved to $8.15–$8.16 billion from $7.65 billion to $7.66 billion, US commercial revenue grew 149% year over year, and the shares rose close to 10% in late trading. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), ON Semiconductor (ON), Snap (SNAP), Clorox (CLX), Williams (WMB), Oneok (OKE) and Diamondback Energy (FANG) all reported into the same crowded evening.
Drivers
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) reports after Tuesday's close, and it arrives as the first proper read on artificial-intelligence semiconductor demand since Korean memory shares dropped roughly 9% apiece on Monday. Memory names have been sold hard since mid-July, and the open question is whether that is about positioning or about orders; one capacity comment settles more of it than a week of analyst notes. Advanced Micro closed at $484.64, up 1.78%.
- Caterpillar and BP both report before Tuesday's open. One buys diesel in volume and the other sells it, which makes the pair a better read on what Monday's energy move does to earnings than either would be alone. HSBC and Duke Energy report the same morning.
- Factory orders and the JOLTS job openings survey both land Tuesday morning, and neither will carry much against what comes at the end of the week. Payrolls for July are released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Friday, August 7.