Somebody in the world of financial journalism needs to check the dictionary. Losing ground for the seventh time in eight sessions is not exactly a rebound for the tech sector, semis, the NASDAQ, or anything else.
Bounding out of the gate by more than 250 points, the NASDAQ gave that all away and was in the red by 10:30 am ET and stayed there the remainder of the session. There were nibblers at the bottom, when the indx was down nearly 200 points, and money came in late to end the day with only a minor loss.
But, the action on the day points up the overall weakness in the market. The Dow was up more than 600 points just after the opening bell, but surrendered more than half of those gains. The S&P spent the majority of the session bouncing back and forth over the unchanged line, eventually gaining 1.25 points, not something anyone can report without at least a little sense of sarcasm. The S&P has been devoid of direction for the better part of two months, even with a plethora of companies reporting good secnd quarter earnings.
The realization that Wall Street is not Main Street and the changing narratives from day to day on the situation in the Gulf region have become passé, to the point of being irrelevant. Everybody knows that the entire Middle East escapade has been a huge mistake and that there's no easy way out for President Trump and his war-happy neocon advisors. At least the annoying high-pitched squealing of Lindsey Graham is gone, though the party faithful continue to bring up his false bravado as though he were some kind of military demigod. At least his deminse opens the door for another voice, possibly with a better sense of reality, though brining in new faces to an already useless Senate and House doesn't really resonate as a solution to the nation's problems, which are many and diverse.
After Monday's close, reporting were the following:
Celestica (CLS) - Record revenue, raises forecast, shares lower by 4% pre-market
Nucor (NUE) - Top and bottom beat, shares flat
Rambus (RMBS) - Solid results, valuation issues take stock down 4%
Whirlpool (WHR) - Warns cu=onsumers are strapped, shares flat pre-open
Applied Digital (APLD) - Top and bottom beat, shares ahead by 3%
Tuesday moring, priro to the opening bell, these companies reported second quarter results:
Boeing (BA) - Earnings short of estimates, stock rises 1.5%
PayPal (PYPL) - Beat, raised guidance, stock down 1.5%
UPS (UPS) - Solid quarter, raises guidance, stck up 1%
HF Sinclair (DINO) - Earnings beat, raises dividend, shares up 4-5%
JetBlue (JBLU) - High fuel costs widen loss, shares higher by 1%
Corning (GLW) - Non-GAAP earnings beat, raises guidance, shares off 16%
Royal Caribbean (RCL) - Beat, cuts revenue guidance, stock up 1%
These companies offer something of a cross-secton of American business, but the reactions to earnings indicate that investors may have seen enoough, even from companies that are reporting strong quarters and raising forward guidance. The overwhelming theme this quarter has been to "sell the news", even if the news is of a positive nature. Without flinching, investors are taking profits and hiding in cash. A number of significant managers have indicated that they are more than 10-20% in cash presently, which is not good for stocks because the market needs a steady flow of capital into stocks, not out of stocks. Fear is on the rise and greed is represented by taking the money and running for safety.
Overnight, Asian tech shares sold off. Steep declines by chip makers SK Hynix and Samsung prompted the KOSPI Korean Exchange to briefly suspend trading twice in the main index, which fell by 10 percent. Japan’s Nikkei dropped four percent.
Carrying the trend over to the U.S., chip makers, tech, and just about anything related to AI is under pressure. Nvidia is close to a recent bottom (June 26th) and NASDAQ futures are down more than 200 points heading toward the open. The pre-market is a tale of two or three themes. While the NASDAQ suffers, Dow futures are 400 points higher, but the S&P is flat-lining.
As usual, gold and silver are selling off, bitcoin is off marginally, WTI crude oil is hovering in a range from $80-82 per barrel on hopes (here we go again) that some kind of deal can be worked out with Iran to end the five-month-long hostilities in the region. Anybody buying into that tired, repeated theme is simply playing with a dead hand of cards and little insight into the big picture.
There's a cruel wind heading toward Western economies. Politicians and Wall Street sharks know it and are moving to cash at an accelerated rate. Warren Buffett is still sitting on something on the order of $400 billion, readying to swoop in for deals when the dust finally settles. One thing can be said of Buffett and his strategies: he may often be early, but he's seldom wrong.
At the Close, Monday, July 27, 2026:
Dow: 52,210.08, +262.83 (+0.51%)
NASDAQ: 24,932.08, -43.74 (-0.18%)
S&{P 500: 7,413.18, +1.20 (+0.02%)
NYSE Composite: 24,098.82, +107.93 (+0.45%)
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