Hey everyone,
Here is a full breakdown combining where we closed out last week, how things have kicked off over the past two days, and what you need to keep on your radar for the rest of this week.
Last week ended on a rough note as a heavy sell-off in AI hardware and semiconductors yanked the broader market lower. High valuation concerns came to a head after TSMC’s quarterly profit beat was overshadowed by massive spending plans, triggering worries over when mega-cap AI capital expenditure will translate into actual bottom-line returns.
Index Performance
Nasdaq Composite: 📉 -2.79% (Led the pullback as chipmakers stumbled)
S&P 500: 📉 -1.45% (Snapped a two-week winning streak)
Key Market Drivers
The AI Hardware Pullback: Heavyweights like Nvidia dragged down global indexes as traders took profits. Jitters were amplified by open-source competition (e.g., China’s Moonshot launching its Kimi K3 model) and reports that Alphabet faced minor delays on its next AI release.
Cooling Inflation vs. Rising Energy: June CPI unexpectedly fell -0.4% MoM—the first monthly drop since 2020—providing great news on the domestic disinflation front. However, escalating strikes involving U.S. and Iranian forces near the Strait of Hormuz sent crude prices surging over 10% on the week, creating an energy-driven inflation tax that capped equity gains.
So far this week, Wall Street has entered a cautious holding pattern. The sharp selling in tech slowed down on Monday, but rising Treasury yields (the 10-year hovering near 4.59%) and persistent Middle East tensions prevented a full-blown relief rally.
Semiconductor names like Nvidia, AMD, and Micron saw dip-buyers step in to trim recent losses. Crypto miner/datacenter play Hut 8 jumped 10% on news of a massive $9.8 billion AI data center lease.
Companies like 3M, General Motors, Capital One, and Nike kicked off corporate earnings week with mixed-to-upbeat commentary, though consumer-facing management teams highlighted geopolitical uncertainty and high borrowing costs as persistent headwinds.
The rest of this week is pure macro and earnings fireworks. Expect elevated volatility as the market tries to figure out whether the AI trade is re-igniting or needs to consolidate further.
Big Tech Earnings Blitz
Wednesday (July 22): Alphabet (GOOGL) and Tesla (TSLA) report after the close. All eyes will be on Alphabet's AI CapEx numbers and Tesla’s margin outlook.
Thursday (July 23): Intel (INTC), ServiceNow (NOW), and defense giant RTX release results.
That's all for now. Have a great rest of the week!
$VOOV (Vanguard S&P 500 Value ETF)... Show More
Not investment advice. The author may have financial interests in the mentioned instruments.
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Sun Sep 06 2026 20:55:27 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
