The S&P 500 broke a two-week winning streak, closing down 1.55% at 7,457. On Monday it was announced that the blockade on Iranian shipping would be reinstated, which sent oil prices surging and stocks sliding with the S&P 500 down 0.79%. Before Tuesdays open it was reported that the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell 0.4% from the prior month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.5%. Both were well below expectations with the first annual decline in five months, and the S&P 500 clawed back about half of Mondays loss. However, International Business Machines (IBM) shares plummeted 25% on Tuesday after they released preliminary second-quarter results that fell short of expectations, losing their worst day on record dating back to 19 October 1987 when shares fell 23.7%. On Wednesday we received the second inflation report as the Producer Price Index (PPI) unexpectedly fell 0.3% in June, which bolstered hopes that the Fed may not need to raise interest rates as aggressively this year. On that news the S&P 500 clawed back the second half of Mondays losses and returned back to essentially last Fridays close. On Thursday further escalations in the war remained in focus, with oil prices rising in their wake and the S&P 500 down about half of one percent. Friday was a volatile day as the S&P 500 gapped down at the open and hit session lows as the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) posted its third weekly decline in four weeks, down 15+% in July. That said, Apple (AAPL) edged up to a record intraday high of $335 and reclaimed its crown as the worlds largest company from Nvidia as the rout in AI stocks continued. At the closing bell, the S&P 500 recouped some of those early losses, but still had a daily loss of greater than 1%. From a technical perspective, weve been in a S&P 500 range bound market since 5 May, between a high of 7,620 on 2 June and low of 7,237 on 9 June. Were currently around the mid-point, and next week were very light on economic news, but early into earnings season. The last week of July will be busy as the Mag 7 report earnings and the Fed announces its interest rate decision. For TSP TIPS the C fund continues with a max Composite Score of 100, remains at the top of the Performance Ranking leaderboard, and is within 2% of hitting a new record high. As noted last week, expect a second fine tuning end of month reallocation on Thursday, 30 July.
The S&P 500 broke a two-week winning streak, closing down 1.55% at 7,457. On Monday it was announced that the blockade on Iranian shipping would be reinstated, which sent oil prices surging and stocks sliding with the S&P 500 down 0.79%. Before Tuesdays open it was reported that the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell 0.4% from the prior month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.5%. Both were well below expectations with the first annual decline in five months, and the S&P 500 clawed back about half of Mondays loss. However, International Business Machines (IBM) shares plummeted 25% on Tuesday after they released preliminary second-quarter results that fell short of expectations, losing their worst day on record dating back to 19 October 1987 when shares fell 23.7%. On Wednesday we received the second inflation report as the Producer Price Index (PPI) unexpectedly fell 0.3% in June, which bolstered hopes that the Fed may not need to raise interest rates as aggressively this year. On that news the S&P 500 clawed back the second half of Mondays losses and returned back to essentially last Fridays close. On Thursday further escalations in the war remained in focus, with oil prices rising in their wake and the S&P 500 down about half of one percent. Friday was a volatile day as the S&P 500 gapped down at the open and hit session lows as the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) posted its third weekly decline in four weeks, down 15+% in July. That said, Apple (AAPL) edged up to a record intraday high of $335 and reclaimed its crown as the worlds largest company from Nvidia as the rout in AI stocks continued. At the closing bell, the S&P 500 recouped some of those early losses, but still had a daily loss of greater than 1%. From a technical perspective, weve been in a S&P 500 range bound market since 5 May, between a high of 7,620 on 2 June and low of 7,237 on 9 June. Were currently around the mid-point, and next week were very light on economic news, but early into earnings season. The last week of July will be busy as the Mag 7 report earnings and the Fed announces its interest rate decision. For TSP TIPS the C fund continues with a max Composite Score of 100, remains at the top of the Performance Ranking leaderboard, and is within 2% of hitting a new record high. As noted last week, expect a second fine tuning end of month reallocation on Thursday, 30 July.