From a Fed decision to Big Tech earnings: What drove last week's volatile market
📰 source: cnbc_topnews · 💼 business
wall street ended the week up after a wild five days. the dow rose 1% for the week, snapping a three-week losing streak, the s&p 500 gained 1%, and the nasdaq climbed 1.6%. monthly numbers were mixed: the dow edged up 0.32% in july for its fourth straight monthly gain, while the s&p 500 fell 0.13% and the nasdaq dropped 3.2%.
the fed left rates unchanged on wednesday but three of 12 policymakers voted for a hike, a hawkish signal. bond yields spiked — the 10-year crossed 4.67% and the 30-year hit its highest since 2007 above 5.2% — sending the dow down over 1,100 points that day. the ai trade also got shaken up: forced selling by the leveraged hedge fund situational awareness, founded by leopold aschenbrenner, reversed the 'long ai hardware, short software' trade before stabilizing thursday.
in big tech earnings, microsoft and amazon showed what good ai spending looks like — $19 billion in quarterly free cash flow and aws's fastest revenue growth in 18 quarters. meta disappointed investors with weaker guidance and a roughly 91% free cash flow drop, and apple beat estimates but faces memory price and supply problems. shares moved accordingly.
why it matters: hawkish fed signals and surging bond yields test stock rally, while big tech earnings split on ai capex discipline.
source: cnbc_topnews
sentiment: +0.50 · impact: 0.80