US Stock Market Summary – July 24, 2026

After two consecutive days of steep declines, the market split today. The Dow rose 0.46% to 51,947.25, the S&P 500 gained 0.05% to 7,411.98, and the Nasdaq fell 0.64% to 24,975.82 (Reuters). Two triggers were at work. First, international oil prices: on reports that Pakistan had accepted a Chinese proposal and was exploring a resumption of US-Iran talks, oil fell more than 3%, easing in a single day the inflation fears that had weighed on markets the prior session. Second, the chip sector: doubts over when AI capex (money spent on facilities such as data centers) would translate into earnings widened, dragging down chip names in bulk (CNBC). The macro calendar was also active. New tariffs targeting 60 trading partners took effect, and the flash July Purchasing Managers' Index (a gauge of how businesses feel about the economy) showed services improving at the fastest pace in eight months (Yahoo Finance). The VIX (volatility index) fell 0.43% to 18.62, and the Fear & Greed Index slipped from 40 to 39, remaining in "Fear" territory.

Today's capital rotated out of tech and spread to nearly every other corner of the market. Ten of the eleven S&P 500 sectors rose, and tech was the only decliner. As oil prices fell and inflation pressure eased, previously beaten-down cyclicals and dividend stocks rebounded. This kind of capital rotation from one group of sectors to another is known as a "rotation."

Decline — Today's biggest decliners were almost entirely semiconductor names. It was a day when only one sector, not the broader market, sold off.

> Major events for the next trading day will appear automatically.

> "People are wondering how to interpret all this spending, and how much longer they need to wait before it actually translates into earnings. The fear-of-missing-out mentality is now turning into fear of massive overinvestment."

> — Peter Andersen, Chief Executive Officer, Andersen Capital Management

> "It's pretty hard to ignore this dispute right now. It's not just oil — it's the pressure on the entire yield curve. Over the next two or three months, Iran will dictate everything again."

> — Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategist, Baird

> "This supports our view of staying defensive into Q3."

> — Paul Ciana, Technical Strategist, Bank of America

Today's technical signals were split exactly down the middle — 120 bullish versus 120 bearish — indicating that the market has not picked a direction. The underlying content, however, leaned clearly to one side. The RSI (a momentum indicator that flags when a stock has risen or fallen too far over a short period) oversold list was populated by tech and telecom-equipment names such as Oracle and Nokia, while the overbought list was filled by energy and defense names such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, and RTX. The signal distribution itself reflects today's capital flow: "out of tech and into energy, defense, and telecom." Individual stock signals can be found in the Technical Signals Report. In short, today was a day when only semiconductors were in pain, not the broader market, and the only thing to watch next week is how the "money being spent on AI" story plays out in Microsoft's and Apple's earnings.