Friends

It was a tale of two earnings reports after the close yesterday. Amazon had a stellar report with web services showing huge demand, while Apple disappointed investors with talk of higher cost in chips. Apples numbers were great as usual, but the shares had been the best performing of the Mag 7 this year sitting at all-time highs while the others were down double digits. It’s not surprising that Apple shares sold off while Amazon shares rallied.

Stocks had a very good day despite oil prices and a still concerning bond market. By the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 276 points to finish the day at 52,485. The S&P 500 was up 52 points to close at 7,489. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 251 points to close at 25,373. Gold was down $50 to trade at $4,110 per ounce, while oil was up $1.19 to trade at $84.78 per barrel WTI.

July was a volatile month for stocks. Given the headwinds that the bulls are facing, it really wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We have most of the important earnings reports now behind us and we don’t have another Fed meeting until September. It should be interesting to see what influences stocks the most in coming weeks. Sure, the war is the obvious choice, but I will still be closely watching the bond market.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Jim