[BRIEFING.COM] The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.97%) is up 508 points this afternoon, in last place among the major averages.

A look inside the DJIA shows that Boeing (BA 229.10, +12.96, +6.00%), Microsoft (MSFT 489.69, +24.97, +5.37%), and Alphabet (GOOGL 374.77, +18.64, +5.23%) are today's top gain getters.

Meanwhile, Merck (MRK 126.84, -3.36, -2.58%) is underperforming.

The DJIA is now +10.3% higher YTD.

[BRIEFING.COM] Mega-cap technology stocks are extending last week's rebound with a sharp rally to start the first trading session of August, keeping the S&P 500 (+1.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+2.0%), and DJIA (+0.9%) in a steady range near their session highs just after midday.

Similar to the back half of last week's action, the "Magnificent Seven" group is leading the major averages firmly higher today, with six of the seven names posting solid gains. Meta Platforms (META 593.92, +37.21, +6.68%) is out in front, extending last week's rebound off multi-month lows alongside Alphabet (GOOG 375.14, +18.48, +5.18%) and pushing the communication services sector (+4.9%) firmly higher.

Tesla (TSLA 320.17, +8.96, +2.88%) is also attracting buy-the-dip interest amid today's risk-on tone, while Amazon (AMZN 284.82, +13.24, +4.88%) builds on last week's impressive post-earnings gain, helping lift the consumer discretionary sector (+2.7%).

The information technology sector (+1.5%) rounds out today's leaders as Microsoft (MSFT 488.64, +23.92, +5.15%) extends its post-earnings momentum while NVIDIA (NVDA 207.00, +6.26, +3.12%) reclaims its 50-day moving average (205.85). However, the sector opened in negative territory amid continued volatility across semiconductor stocks, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+0.2%) retreating nearly 3% before recovering. While this week's earnings calendar lacks the firepower of last week's "Magnificent Seven" reports, several prominent chipmakers, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 480.81, +4.66, +0.98%) and a number of memory names, could still drive volatility over the coming days.

All told, the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is up 2.3%, highlighting the outsized contribution of the market's largest companies to today's advance.

That is not to say the broader market is being left behind. The S&P 500 Equal Weight Index (+0.7%) also sports a healthy gain, while advancers outpace decliners by roughly 2-to-1 on the NYSE and 3-to-1 on the Nasdaq. Eight S&P 500 sectors trade higher, with lower oil prices contributing to strength in the consumer discretionary (+2.7%) and industrials (+1.1%) sectors.

WTI crude oil is down $4.99 (-5.9%) to $79.68 per barrel after President Trump called off a wave of planned strikes against Iran. The energy sector (-0.9%) is the market's primary laggard as a result, while the defensive health care (-0.5%) and consumer staples (-0.3%) sectors also trade modestly lower as investors rotate away from more defensive areas of the market.

Outside the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 (+1.5%) is keeping pace with the major averages, while the S&P MidCap 400 (+0.8%) posts a more modest gain.

Today's action suggests investors are beginning August with a renewed appetite for risk following last week's strong earnings reports and easing geopolitical tensions. While leadership remains concentrated in mega-cap technology stocks, improving participation across the broader market and a sharp decline in oil prices are providing a supportive backdrop heading into another busy week of earnings.

Reviewing today's data:

• July S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI - Final 53.9; Prior 53.8
• June Construction Spending -0.1% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%); Prior was revised to 0.0% from 0.1%
  • The key takeaway from the report is that the softness was driven entirely by residential spending.
• July ISM Manufacturing Index 55.6% (Briefing.com consensus 54.0%); Prior 53.3%
  • The key takeaway from the report is that manufacturing activity picked up steam in July, with the PMI logging its highest reading since May 2022.

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+1.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+2.0%), and DJIA (+1.0%) are maintaining their solid gains.

CoreWeave (CRWV 84.17, +12.40, +17.28%)is rallying hard today as investors rotate back into higher-growth AI names amid a broader risk-on market backdrop, while confidence in the company's long-term infrastructure opportunity continues to build. Beyond improving sentiment, investors are also responding to a series of strategic announcements that reinforce Coreweave's position as one of the leading providers of AI-native cloud infrastructure.

Last week's partnership with Leidos (LDOS 117.84, +2.24, +1.94%) to deliver secure AI cloud services for U.S. intelligence and defense missions expands Coreweave's reach into the highly attractive government market, where demand for sovereign AI infrastructure, model training, and inference workloads could create a meaningful long-term revenue stream, subject to mission requirements and federal funding. Separately, Coreweave's recently announced $335 million, multi-exabyte agreement with Backblaze (BLZE 14.39, +0.67, +4.88%) should strengthen its storage capabilities by adding a lower-cost storage tier for AI workloads, improving infrastructure efficiency while allowing premium high-performance resources to remain focused on compute-intensive applications, which could support both margins and future capacity expansion.

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages remain little changed from previous levels at midday.

Several of today's worst-performing S&P 500 components move lower following negative analyst calls this morning. Fair Isaac (FICO 1041.68, -81.29, -7.24%) is the worst performer, extending last week's double-digit post-earnings slide after Wolfe downgraded the stock to Peer Perform from Outperform, while eBay (EBAY 108.85, -5.16, -4.53%) holds a similar loss following a downgrade to Underweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo.

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+1.1%), Nasdaq Composite (+1.8%), and DJIA (+1.1%) are sporting solid gains just before midday, supported by broad strength as oil prices retreat and continued leadership in mega-cap tech.

Eight S&P 500 sectors trade higher, with the communication services (+3.7%) and consumer discretionary (+2.7%) sectors out in front as Meta Platforms (META 591.55, +34.84, +6.26%) and Amazon (AMZN 284.42, +12.84, +4.73%) continue to add to last week's post-earnings gains, with other mega-cap heavyweights such as Alphabet (GOOG 369.88, +13.24, +3.71%) posting similar gains.

The information technology sector (+1.1%) is supported by strength in Microsoft (MSFT 482.18, +17.46, +3.76%) and NVIDIA (NVDA 207.06, +6.31, +3.14%), with the latter helping the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+0.2%) turn a nearly 3% opening loss into a slight gain. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is up 1.8%.

Meanwhile, the energy sector (-0.7%) is a laggard as crude oil moves $5.20 lower (-6.1%) to $79.47 per barrel after President Trump announced a series of military strikes against Iran planned for today have been called off.

Outside the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 (+1.6%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (+1.1%) hold gains similar to those of the major averages.

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages trade in a stable range, firmly higher.

Marriott (MAR 347.44, -25.39, -6.81%) is one of the worst-performing S&P 500 components after reporting mixed Q2 results this morning. Adjusted EPS increased 20% year-over-year to $3.19, comfortably ahead of expectations, while revenue rose 4.8% to $7.07 billion but fell short. Marriott also raised its FY26 outlook to adjusted EPS of $11.64-$11.81 and worldwide RevPAR growth of 3.0-3.5%. However, Q3 adjusted EPS guidance of $2.74-$2.82 fell below expectations, even as Marriott expects continued growth across RevPAR, fee revenue, and adjusted EBITDA.

Marriott's Q2 results indicate that underlying lodging demand remains healthy, with U.S. and Canada RevPAR posting the region's strongest growth in 13 quarters and strength extending across brand tiers and customer segments. Although the World Cup contributed to domestic strength, demand also remained solid across non-World Cup markets, and Marriott expects the broad trends that extended into July to continue. Internationally, RevPAR increased across Europe, APEC, Greater China, and the Caribbean and Latin America. However, the steep decline in the Middle East more than offset that growth and pushed overall international RevPAR slightly lower. Double-digit growth in gross fees and adjusted EBITDA highlights Marriott's solid operating performance, while improved economics from its new co-branded card agreements could provide an additional tailwind to fee growth.

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+1.1%), Nasdaq Composite (+1.5%), and DJIA (+1.2%) are adding to their opening gains as chipmaker stocks shed some early weakness, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index now down just a modest 0.4%.

The ISM Manufacturing Index increased to 55.6% in July (Briefing.com consensus 54.0%) from 53.3% in June. The dividing line between expansion and contraction is 50.0%, so the July figure suggests manufacturing activity expanded in July from the prior month.

The key takeaway from the report is that manufacturing activity picked up steam in July, with the PMI logging its highest reading since May 2022.

Construction spending decreased 0.1% month-over-month in June (Briefing.com consensus: 0.3%) following a downwardly revised unchanged reading (from 0.1%) for May. On a year-over-year basis, construction spending was down 3.2%.

The key takeaway from the report is that the softness was driven entirely by residential spending.

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.9%), Nasdaq Composite (+1.2%), and DJIA (+1.4%) are off to a solid start to the week, with mega-cap tech leading the market higher against a backdrop of broad strength amid retreating oil prices.

Nine S&P 500 sectors trade higher, with the communication services sector (+4.2%) out in front as Meta Platforms (META 589.33, +32.62, +5.86%) and Alphabet (GOOG 372.33, +15.68, +4.40%) continue to build upon last week's momentum. A similar gain in Amazon (AMZN 284.14, +12.56, +4.62%) pushes the consumer discretionary sector (+2.8%) firmly higher as well, and the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is up 1.3%.

The early gains are somewhat limited by opening weakness across semiconductor names, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index down 2.3%, weighing on the information technology sector (+0.1%).

Elsewhere, the energy sector (-1.1%) is the only S&P 500 sector with a loss wider than 0.5% as crude oil retreats toward the $79 per barrel mark.

On the data front, the final reading of the July S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI expanded to 53.9, from the prior reading of 53.8.

Construction spending decreased 0.1% month-over-month in June (Briefing.com consensus: 0.3%) after a downwardly revised flat reading (from 0.1%) in May.

The ISM Manufacturing Index expanded to 55.6% in July (Briefing.com consensus 54.0%) from 53.3.3% in June.

The stock market remains on track for a mostly higher open this morning, supported by falling oil prices and Treasury yields alongside some lingering strength in "Magnificent Seven" names following a busy week of earnings for the group.

That strength will be put to the test at the open amid weakness in the semiconductor group, with a slate of key names set to report earnings this week.

The S&P 500 futures currently trade 23 points above fair value. 

Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region had a mixed showing on Monday with South Korea's Kospi (-5.1%) giving back some of its big gains from Friday. The U.S. Treasury confirmed that it took part in a joint intervention in the foreign exchange market with Japan's Ministry of Finance and Treasury Secretary Bessent called for increasing the size of the facility that was used to conduct the operation. Final July Manufacturing PMI readings from the region showed accelerating growth in most economies. Chinese press reported that convertible bond sales in China could exceed CNY100 bln this year.

• In economic data:
  • China's July RatingDog Manufacturing PMI 50.9 (expected 51.9; last 51.7)
  • Japan's July Manufacturing PMI 54.5 (expected 54.7; last 54.8)
  • South Korea's July trade surplus $30.23 bln (expected surplus of $29.59 bln; last surplus of $36.09 bln). July Imports 26.5% yr/yr (expected 26.6%; last 30.0%) and Exports 62.8% yr/yr (expected 59.0%; last 70.7%). July Manufacturing PMI 53.1 (last 52.1)
  • Australia's July Manufacturing PMI 52.0 (expected 51.7; last 51.5). July MI Inflation Gauge 1.0% m/m (last -0.4%) and July ANZ Job Advertisements 2.0% m/m (last -0.2%)
  • New Zealand's June Building Consents -3.6% m/m (last -4.9%)
  • India's July Manufacturing PMI 53.5 (expected 53.9; last 54.2)

---Equity Markets---

• Japan's Nikkei: -0.9%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng: +0.5%
• China's Shanghai Composite: -0.6%
• India's Sensex: +0.7%
• South Korea's Kospi: -5.1%
• Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: +0.5%

Major European indices trade firmly in the green while the U.K.'s FTSE (+0.2%) struggles to keep pace as AstraZeneca (AZN) weighs amid reports that the company held merger talks with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY). Falling energy prices and indications of U.S.-Iran deescalation have contributed to the overall strength in the region. Final July Manufacturing PMI readings from the region showed some deceleration in growth compared to flash estimates, though the eurozone's reading (51.9) remained above 50.

• In economic data:
  • Eurozone's July Manufacturing PMI 51.9 (expected 52.0; last 52.0)
  • Germany's June Retail Sales -1.1% m/m (expected -0.4%; last 1.2%); -0.2% yr/yr (last -2.8%). July Manufacturing PMI 52.2, as expected (last 52.2)
  • U.K.'s July Manufacturing PMI 51.9 (expected 52.8; last 52.8)
  • France's July Manufacturing PMI 49.8 (expected 50.0; last 50.0)
  • Italy's Manufacturing PMI 51.3 (expected 52.5; last 52.2)
  • Swiss July CPI -0.1% m/m, as expected (last 0.0%); 0.4% yr/yr (last 0.5%). July Manufacturing PMI 53.2 (expected 54.5; last 54.3)

---Equity Markets---

• STOXX Europe 600: +0.4%
• Germany's DAX: +1.4%
• U.K.'s FTSE 100: +0.1%
• France's CAC 40: +1.2%
• Italy's FTSE MIB: +0.9%
• Spain's IBEX 35: +0.7%

The S&P 500 futures currently trade 20 points above fair value.

Crude oil remains firmly lower, with Bloomberg reporting that Iran said talks regarding shipping through the Strait of Hormuz are underway and making progress.

Meanwhile, Ferguson Enterprises (FERG 253.00, +18.67, +8.0%) trades higher after news that it will replace Electronic Arts (EA 209.95, +0.09, +0.0%) in the S&P 500 effective before the opening of trading on Wednesday, August 5.

Equity futures point to a mostly higher open to start the week, with some enthusiasm coming from a slide in oil prices after President Trump called off planned strikes against Iran. NBC News reports that President Trump said new talks will begin with Iran today, and crude oil is currently down $5.28 (-6.2%) to $79.39 per barrel.

Stocks are coming off a mostly higher finish to a volatile week following strong earnings from Microsoft (MSFT 475.00, +10.28, +2.2%) and Amazon (AMZN 276.83, +5.25, +1.9%), which also helped reignite some enthusiasm around the AI-buildout cycle.

This week will also see a sizable chunk of S&P 500 companies report earnings, including several large chipmaker names along with SpaceX (SPCX 106.30, -2.07, -1.9%).

On the data front, investors will receive the final S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI for July at 9:45 a.m. ET, followed by June Construction Spending and the July ISM Manufacturing Index at 10:00 a.m.

In corporate news:

• Alibaba (BABA 127.37, +5.12, +4.2%) introduced a new Qwen3.8-Max AI model, according to Bloomberg.
• AstraZeneca (AZN 162.30, -7.34, -4.3%) is in discussions to combine with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY 68.50, +3.19, +4.9%), according to Financial Times.
• Marriott (MAR 359.85, -12.98, -3.5%) beat EPS expectations by $0.11, missed revenue expectations, and guided Q3 EPS below consensus, with FY26 EPS above consensus.

Reviewing overnight developments:

Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region had a mixed showing on Monday with South Korea's Kospi (-5.1%) giving back some of its big gains from Friday. Japan's Nikkei: -0.9%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng: +0.5%, China's Shanghai Composite: -0.6%, India's Sensex: +0.7%, South Korea's Kospi: -5.1%, Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: +0.5%.

In news:

• The U.S. Treasury confirmed that it took part in a joint intervention in the foreign exchange market with Japan's Ministry of Finance and Treasury Secretary Bessent called for increasing the size of the facility that was used to conduct the operation.
• Final July Manufacturing PMI readings from the region showed accelerating growth in most economies.
• Chinese press reported that convertible bond sales in China could exceed CNY100 bln this year.

In economic data:

• China's July RatingDog Manufacturing PMI 50.9 (expected 51.9; last 51.7)
• Japan's July Manufacturing PMI 54.5 (expected 54.7; last 54.8)
• South Korea's July trade surplus $30.23 bln (expected surplus of $29.59 bln; last surplus of $36.09 bln). July Imports 26.5% yr/yr (expected 26.6%; last 30.0%) and Exports 62.8% yr/yr (expected 59.0%; last 70.7%). July Manufacturing PMI 53.1 (last 52.1)
• Australia's July Manufacturing PMI 52.0 (expected 51.7; last 51.5). July MI Inflation Gauge 1.0% m/m (last -0.4%) and July ANZ Job Advertisements 2.0% m/m (last -0.2%)
• New Zealand's June Building Consents -3.6% m/m (last -4.9%)
• India's July Manufacturing PMI 53.5 (expected 53.9; last 54.2)

Major European indices trade firmly in the green while the U.K.'s FTSE (+0.2%) struggles to keep pace as AstraZeneca (AZN) weighs amid reports that the company held merger talks with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY). STOXX Europe 600: +0.4%, Germany's DAX: +1.5%, U.K.'s FTSE 100: +0.2%, France's CAC 40: +1.3%, Italy's FTSE MIB: +0.9%, Spain's IBEX 35: +0.8%.

In news:

• Falling energy prices and indications of U.S.-Iran deescalation have contributed to the overall strength in the region.
• Final July Manufacturing PMI readings from the region showed some deceleration in growth compared to flash estimates, though the eurozone's reading (51.9) remained above 50.

In economic data:

• Eurozone's July Manufacturing PMI 51.9 (expected 52.0; last 52.0)
• Germany's June Retail Sales -1.1% m/m (expected -0.4%; last 1.2%); -0.2% yr/yr (last -2.8%). July Manufacturing PMI 52.2, as expected (last 52.2)
• U.K.'s July Manufacturing PMI 51.9 (expected 52.8; last 52.8)
• France's July Manufacturing PMI 49.8 (expected 50.0; last 50.0)
• Italy's Manufacturing PMI 51.3 (expected 52.5; last 52.2)
• Swiss July CPI -0.1% m/m, as expected (last 0.0%); 0.4% yr/yr (last 0.5%). July Manufacturing PMI 53.2 (expected 54.5; last 54.3)

[BRIEFING.COM] What Microsoft (MSFT 464.72, +13.62, +3.02%) and the semiconductors did for the stock market on Thursday, Amazon (AMZN 271.58, +36.08, +15.32%) and several of its mega-cap brethren did for the stock market on Friday.

It was an impressive follow-up act that had a similar overlay, right down to the opposing force of a mega-cap laggard. On Thursday, that laggard was Meta Platforms (META 556.71, +17.68, +3.28%). Today, it was Apple (AAPL 308.91, -24.52, -7.35%), which was sent packing after providing disappointing fiscal Q4 revenue guidance that it attributed to supply constraints and negative FX effects.

Fortunately, Apple's struggles did not pull down the market, partly because there was a recognition that Apple's problem is a supply problem and not a demand problem. At the same time, other mega-cap leaders, namely Alphabet (GOOG 356.65, +22.97, +6.88%), NVIDIA (NVDA 200.75, +5.71, +2.93%), and Microsoft, flexed their muscles, and along with Amazon, more than made up for Apple's losses.

Today's session started in a roller-coaster fashion. The S&P 500 ran up to 7,490, but no sooner had it done that than it was back at 7,400, undercut by a steady rise in Treasury yields, rising oil prices, and a rollover by the semiconductor stocks, which had a boisterous start on the heels of a 17.9% gain in South Korea's Kospi Index that was led by SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.

Treasury yields and oil prices remained elevated throughout today's trade, and semiconductors, as a group, stalled, yet the stock market made a steady advance for most of today's session that saw the S&P 500 scale the wall at 7,500 shortly before today's close, only to lose that ground in the last minute of trading.

The 10-yr note yield, for its part, jumped eight basis points today to 4.75%, leaving it up 33 basis points for the month in a move that coincided with rising oil prices. WTI crude futures settled today up 1.2% at $84.57/bbl but rose 21% in July.

That move fueled the S&P 500 energy sector, which was the market's best-performing sector this month, gaining 12.6%.

Like Thursday, participation in the stock market's advance was fairly narrow. Breadth favored decliners by a slim margin at the NYSE and Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 was down 0.5%; the equal-weighted S&P 500 was down 0.2%; and seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors finished lower. The two best-performing sectors today were the consumer discretionary (+6.1%) and communication services (+4.6%), which were led by Amazon and Alphabet, respectively.

• Russell 2000: +18.1% YTD
• S&P MidCap 400: +13.8% YTD
• S&P 500: +9.4% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: +9.2% YTD
• DJIA: +9.1% YTD

Reviewing today's data:

• The Q2 Employment Cost Index increased 0.9% (Briefing.com consensus: 0.8%) on the heels of a 0.9% increase in Q1, with wages and salaries up 0.9% and benefit costs up 1.0%.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that wages and salaries for civilian workers, up 3.2% year-over-year, are not keeping up with inflation. That could eventually lead to reduced discretionary spending activity.
• The final reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for July increased to 55.2 (Briefing.com consensus: 54.4) from the preliminary reading of 54.4 and the final reading of 49.5 for June. In the same period a year ago, the index stood at 61.7.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that sentiment held okay in July, even as gas prices started to rise again amid increased military hostilities between the U.S. and Iran.
• July Chicago PMI 57.6 vs. 56.5 Briefing.com consensus; prior 56.7