Markets News, July 30, 2026: Indexes End Sharply Higher, Tech Shares Soar; Apple, Amazon Report

Markets News, July 30, 2026: Indexes End Sharply Higher, Tech Shares Soar; Apple, Amazon Report

Aaron Rennie

Thu, July 30, 2026 at 2:07 PM GMT+3 15 min read

Major stock indexes staged quite the rebound today.

One day after plunging, the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite, benchmark S&P 500, and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed a respective 2.8%, 1.7%, and 1.2% higher, with the Dow adding 600 points.

Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META) issued highly anticipated earnings after yesterday's close, with investors reacting differently to the reports. Microsoft's results beat analysts' expectations and shares surged 16% to pace the Dow, pushing the company's market value over $3.5 trillion, while Meta's profit missed as costs rose and shares sank 8%.

The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) and broader iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) jumped a respective 16% and 8.5% after dropping more than 6% and 5% yesterday. Memory stocks Sandisk (SNDK), Micron Technology (MU), Seagate Technology (STX), and Western Digital (WDC) soared between 12% and 26%.

Two more Magnificent Seven tech giants—Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN)—were due to announce their results after the close today. Apple shares slipped about 1.5%, while those of Amazon rose 4%. (Read our tech earnings blog, which summarizes those results, here.)

Yesterday, the indexes fell between 1.5% and 2.2%, with the Dow shedding more than 1,150 points for its worst day in 15 months, after the Fed's 9-3 decision to keep rates steady, as Chair Kevin Warsh said the central bank would be resolute in getting inflation down to its 2% target. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, traders are pricing in a 63% chance of at least a quarter-percentage-point rate hike at its September meeting, down from 82% a week ago.

Before the bell Thursday, the monthly Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation readings matched economists' expectations, with the Fed's preferred inflation gauge showing prices rose 3.7% over 12 months in June, down from a 4.1% increase in May. "Core" PCE, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, increased 3.3% in June, down from 3.4% the prior month.

However, second-quarter GDP growth came in at 1.5%, below expectations of 1.8% and first-quarter growth of 2.1%. The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of consumer loans including mortgages, was below 4.67% at 4 p.m. ET, down from Wednesday's close above 4.68%.

"These data confirm what we already knew—but for the energy shock, inflation would be heading lower," Jamie Cox, Managing Partner for Harris Financial Group, said in written commentary. "The Fed made the right call yesterday to stand pat on rates."

Oil prices declined Thursday as traders assessed U.S. forces' retaliatory strikes against Iran. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures were 1.1% lower at $83.50 a barrel in recent trading, while global benchmark Brent crude futures declined 2% to just below $89.

Bitcoin was trading around $64,800, up from overnight lows around $63,200. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, was nearly 1% lower at 99.94. Gold futures rose 3.4% to $4,170 an ounce.

JULY 30, 2026 AT 07:05 PM GMT

Majority of S&P 500 Sectors in Red Despite Huge Overall Gains

The S&P 500 is up roughly 1.5% with less than an hour to go in the trading day. Still, a majority of its sectors are in the red.

Six of the 11 sectors tracked by the benchmark index are in negative territory, led by Communication Services (down 2.6%) and Consumer Staples (down 2.2%).

The main reason the S&P 500 is up overall? Information Technology shares are up a whopping 5.1%.

JULY 30, 2026 AT 06:47 PM GMT

Trump's Truth Social Offers Deep-Pocketed Traders Exclusive Early Access to Market-Moving Posts

Trump Media wants to pull a page out of Flash Boys.

Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT) plans to roll out Truth API on August 1, a service that promises businesses the "fastest access" to Truth Social's "most influential accounts" for a fee. The company reportedly discussed charging as much as $100,000 a month for the service—a nod to the large sums high-frequency traders paid for a millisecond information advantage in Michael Lewis's book.

President Donald Trump, who has the highest profile account on Truth Social, with nearly 13 million followers, routinely posts information that is of value to investors. With Truth API, a select group of high-paying customers stands to benefit even more from early access to the market-moving information.

In recent months Trump has posted about new developments in the Iran war, which is particularly important for buyers and sellers of futures contracts who are trying to ascertain where oil prices are headed. Over the past year, he has also posted about tariff policy, government investments in publicly traded companies, and other corporate news developments.

Read the full article here.

-Crystal Kim

JULY 30, 2026 AT 06:18 PM GMT

Tech Earnings Today: Apple, Amazon Set to Report as Mag 7 Results Keep Rolling

A busy week for big tech earnings watchers—which these days is pretty much all investors, given the companies' influence in markets —is set to continue today, with results from Apple (AAPL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) due after the close.

Their numbers will wrap a lively period for the Magnificent 7 companies. Yesterday evening, Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) reported; shares of the former were rising today after its results impressed, while the latter was moving in the other direction. Quarterly results from Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) were already in the books.

Apple, which recently touched the $5 trillion market cap level, is the best-performing Magnificent 7 stock of the year by a good margin, up roughly 25% in 2026 through Wednesday's close. Amazon is modestly in the red, though it has outperformed the Roundhill Magnificent 7 ETF (MAGS) that measures them as a group.

Our previews of the upcoming results from Amazon and Apple are here and here, respectively. After today, investor attention will largely turn to Nvidia (NVDA), which is due to report in late August.

Today's results will arrive with investors still digesting yesterday's Fed meeting, at which the U.S. central bank said it would keep rates in place and Chair Kevin Warsh said he was committed to fighting inflation.

Read the full blog here.

-David Marino-Nachison

JULY 30, 2026 AT 04:26 PM GMT

Tuesday Drop Promotions Helping Taco Bell Rebound From Cyclospora Outbreak

Taco Bell has suffered "meaningful" sales hit because of an outbreak of cyclospora-related illnesses. Its solution: Tuesday drop promotions.

Chris Turner, CEO of Taco Bell parent Yum! Brands (YUM), said on the earnings call Thursday that the fast-food chain "tapped into fans' passion for iconic menu items through the last two Tuesday drops, with last week's $1 Enchirito followed by this week's $1 Mexican Pizza offer, which became our two highest performing Tuesday drop promotions in brand history," per a transcript provided by AlphaSense.

Earlier this month, Taco Bell removed shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms after federal health officials linked it to the cyclospora outbreak in several Midwestern states. On the earnings call, Turner said Taco Bell "has seen a meaningful near-term sales impact" as "elevated uncertainty initially weighed on consumer demand." However, Turner added the company expects the "impact to be temporary," and that "the team's swift and transparent action reinforced trust in the brand."

Yum Brands reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share on revenue of $2.17 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $1.56 and $2.18 billion, respectively.

Shares of Yum Brands rose roughly 3% in recent trading. They had been up less than 1% since the start of the year entering Thursday.

JULY 30, 2026 AT 03:32 PM GMT

Starbucks Is 'Just Starting to Play Offense' in Turnaround Plan

Shares of Starbucks are rising Thursday as investors buy into the company's turnaround progress.

Starbucks (SBUX) said Wednesday that it earned an adjusted 85 cents per share, 20 cents ahead of estimates, on $9.32 billion in revenue. The topline figure was down 1% year-over-year but better than the $9.18 billion analyst consensus. The chain's same store sales growth also topped estimates at 7.9%, just over 2% better than analysts had forecast.

Starbucks lifted its full-year forecasts for comparable store sales growth to 6.5%, up from 5% previously, along with adjusted EPS of $2.55 to $2.65, up from the prior range of $2.25 to $2.45.

William Blair analysts said they "expect investor enthusiasm to continue to ramp up as the margin recovery remains early and Starbucks is just starting to play offense after 18 months of a foundational reset." Morgan Stanley analysts, lifting their price target to $115 from $111, said that Starbucks has "by now shown an effective ability to turn sales around."

CEO Brian Niccol took over the coffee chain in late 2024 and introduced a "Back to Starbucks" turnaround plan that included changes such as speeding up the drink making process and simplifying Starbucks' menu.

Starbucks shares were up about 1% in recent trading, putting them up roughly 25% since the start of the year.

-Aaron McDade

JULY 30, 2026 AT 03:19 PM GMT

Delta, DraftKings Partner on 'Free-to-Play Sports Knowledge Contest'

In-flight gambling has been illegal on U.S. commercial aircraft for more than six decades. Delta Air Lines and DraftKings are collaborating nevertheless.

Delta (DAL) and DraftKings (DKNG) announced yesterday that they are teaming up for "SkyPicks, a free-to-play sports knowledge contest" on the carrier's flights. The news comes 18 months after Delta CEO Ed Bastian announced at CES 2025 that the two would be partnering but gave no details.

"Designed solely as an entertainment experience within Delta Sync Wi-Fi," members of the airline's SkyMiles program who are at least 21 can use their personal device to make sports predictions tied to real matchups. (SkyPicks launched Wednesday with MLB games, and NFL contests will follow once the season starts in early September.) Top scorers can win Delta gift cards—the values weren't announced—and the carrier stressed that "no wagering, deposits, real money, miles, or currency" is involved, which would run afoul of the Gambling Devices Act of 1962.

"If inflight gambling were allowed on US carriers, it could become a very lucrative industry, so one can't help but wonder if this is the first step toward trying to convince regulators to update those rules," Ben Schlappig writes on his travel site One Mile at a Time, adding that he suspects "there's a bit more going on here than meets the eye."

Gary Leff from travel site View From the Wing believes that "the smarter play for another airline might be to partner with a prediction market like Kalshi, which sells futures contracts (sports betting) but is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and isn't gambling under federal law." Leff adds that he's "surprised we haven't seen a renewed lobbying effort to legalize inflight gambling, because there's simply so much money at stake—stakes that airlines are currently leaving on the table."

-Aaron Rennie

JULY 30, 2026 AT 01:50 PM GMT

Economy Grew at Unexpectedly Slow Rate in Second Quarter

The U.S. economy tapped the brakes in the second quarter, surprising economists with unexpectedly slow growth.

The inflation-adjusted Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualized rate of 1.5% in the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday. That was a slowdown from 2.1% in the first quarter, and less than the 1.8% forecasters had expected, according to a survey of economists at Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

The lackluster growth report showed the U.S. economy faces risks of a slowing expansion at the same time as it's dealing with stubbornly high inflation that's been exacerbated by the Iran war.

Much of the slow growth rate was due to rising imports, which subtract from GDP calculations, reflecting a spending spree on imported computer equipment driven by the AI investment boom.

-Diccon Hyatt

JULY 30, 2026 AT 01:41 PM GMT

Meta's Stock Tumbles Over 10% After Profits Disappoint

Meta's stock is taking a hit after the social media giant posted earnings that missed analysts' estimates.

Shares of Meta (META) were down 9% in morning trading, sliding after its quarterly results added fuel to worries about its AI spending plans.

The Facebook and Instagram parent yesterday posted second-quarter earnings per share of $6.18, below the $7.19 analysts had expected, despite a record $60.80 billion in revenue. Costs surged 55% as the company continues to invest heavily in AI infrastructure. Meta said it incurred $2.40 billion in charges tied to legal proceedings and $1.18 billion related to severance expenses after laying off 8,000 employees in May.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs said the results could be interpreted "as a solid indicator of the application of AI compute to the company's core business but not quite the outsized positive returns that had been expected."

"We still need greater clarity on the product pipeline & spending outlook," wrote analysts at JPMorgan.

Thursday's slide would leave Meta shares about a third off their highs last year.

—Kara Greenberg

JULY 30, 2026 AT 01:34 PM GMT

Microsoft Stock Soars on Solid Q4 Results

Microsoft stock is surging after its latest earnings report eased investor fears about its AI spending and revenue growth.

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) were up nearly 10% in recent trading a day after the tech giant topped estimates with its quarterly earnings. The Windows software maker said Wednesday it earned an adjusted $4.74 per share in its fiscal fourth quarter on $90.01 billion in revenue, while analysts had expected $4.25 per share and $87.7 billion in revenue.

The company reported Intelligent Cloud revenue of $39.3 billion, about $1 billion above estimates, as revenue from Microsoft's Azure segment and other cloud services rose 43%. Azure has become a key metric for Microsoft's results as it can indicate the level of demand Microsoft is seeing for cloud computing services from fellow AI companies.

JPMorgan analysts said after the report that Microsoft's results stand out among big tech companies in terms of its ability to balance revenue growth while managing profit margins.

Citi analysts called the report a "solid rebuttal to the bear case" for Microsoft, thanks to better-than-expected growth for two of Microsoft's most important segments, Azure and Copilot.

Even with Thursday's gains, Microsoft shares are still down more than 10% since the start of the year.

-Aaron McDade

JULY 30, 2026 AT 01:16 PM GMT

The Fed's Favorite Measure of Inflation Cooled Down in June

The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation cooled in June, as a lull in the Iran war caused gasoline prices to fall.

The cost of living as measured by Personal Consumption Expenditures rose 3.7% over 12 months in June, down from a 4.1% annual increase in May, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday.

"Core" prices, which exclude volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.3% annually, down slightly from 3.4% May and remaining well above the Fed's 2% target. Both figures were in line with forecasters' expectations, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

The deceleration of inflation echoed the trend in the government's other major inflation gauge, the Consumer Price Index. That report was released earlier this month and also showed inflation cooling, at least temporarily, in June.

PCE prices, however, are of particular significance to the Fed, which uses the core PCE price index as its benchmark for judging whether inflation is running at its 2% target.

-Diccon Hyatt

JULY 30, 2026 AT 12:38 PM GMT

Anheuser-Busch InBev Stock Falls Despite Strong Results

Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) shares are falling before the bell. It appears investors may be disappointed the company didn't raise its full-year outlook after a strong second quarter.

Shares of AB InBev fell 3% premarket even though the Budweiser parent posted better-than-expected results early Thursday.

AB InBev posted underlying, or adjusted, earnings of $1.21 per share on revenue that increased 5.6% year-over-year to $16.66 billion. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had expected $1.10 per share and $16.40 billion, respectively.

However, the company merely affirmed its full-year EBITDA outlook of 4% to 8% growth despite the Q2 results.

Investors may also be simply taking profits, as the stock entered the day up 33% this year.

JULY 30, 2026 AT 11:07 AM GMT

Stock Futures Rebound After Dow Notches Worst Day in 15 Months

Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.3%.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.5%.

Nasdaq 100 futures pointed 1.1% higher.

Read the original article on Investopedia