After two consecutive down weeks, this week was volatile with the S&P 500 up just over 1%, closing at 7,489. On Monday the S&P 500 gapped up at the open, but then the semiconductor sector continued their downward trend moving the S&P 500 back to flatline. It was more of the same on Tuesday as the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) dropped 3.5% for its fourth straight negative session, but the S&P 500 ended with a slight gain. Wednesday was a busy one as traders first weighed the Feds decision to leave interest rates unchanged, which sent the 30-year Treasury yield to its highest level since 2007. By the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.19%, marking its worst decline since April 2025. That said, the S&P 500 had a greater than 1% loss, while the NASDAQ 100 lost over 2%. And then we had Wednesdays extended hours earnings reports, with Meta Plaforms (META) losing 7% after issuing a soft revenue forecast. Microsoft (MSFT), by contrast, jumped significantly on surging growth from its Azure business. By Thursdays close, MSFT had gained over 15%, recording the biggest one-day market cap gain in stock market history, surging by $450B. All told, chipmakers rallied and the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 clawed back all of Wednesdays losses plus some. Then, after Thursdays close, Amazon (AMZN) surged after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter revenue which reinforced investor confidence in artificial intelligence spending. Next came Apples (AAPL) report which showed third-quarter revenue topping expectations, helped by a 22% jump in iPhone sales. However, a shortfall in service revenue led to a 7% decline in its stock on Friday. Similar to MSFT on Thursday, AMZN gained over 15% on Friday and the S&P 500 had an up week as we closed July down for a second consecutive month. From a technical perspective, we had a lot of movement this week but still remain in that 13-week S&P 500 range bound market channel between a high of 7,620 on 2 June and low of 7,237 on 9 June. For TSP TIPS we made three investment mix changes in July as we mitigated some market risk as all funds Composite Scores and Performance Rankings slipped this month. As such we remain well positioned in this range bound market to optimize our allocation should we see either a bullish or bearish breakout.
After two consecutive down weeks, this week was volatile with the S&P 500 up just over 1%, closing at 7,489. On Monday the S&P 500 gapped up at the open, but then the semiconductor sector continued their downward trend moving the S&P 500 back to flatline. It was more of the same on Tuesday as the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) dropped 3.5% for its fourth straight negative session, but the S&P 500 ended with a slight gain. Wednesday was a busy one as traders first weighed the Feds decision to leave interest rates unchanged, which sent the 30-year Treasury yield to its highest level since 2007. By the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.19%, marking its worst decline since April 2025. That said, the S&P 500 had a greater than 1% loss, while the NASDAQ 100 lost over 2%. And then we had Wednesdays extended hours earnings reports, with Meta Plaforms (META) losing 7% after issuing a soft revenue forecast. Microsoft (MSFT), by contrast, jumped significantly on surging growth from its Azure business. By Thursdays close, MSFT had gained over 15%, recording the biggest one-day market cap gain in stock market history, surging by $450B. All told, chipmakers rallied and the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 clawed back all of Wednesdays losses plus some. Then, after Thursdays close, Amazon (AMZN) surged after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter revenue which reinforced investor confidence in artificial intelligence spending. Next came Apples (AAPL) report which showed third-quarter revenue topping expectations, helped by a 22% jump in iPhone sales. However, a shortfall in service revenue led to a 7% decline in its stock on Friday. Similar to MSFT on Thursday, AMZN gained over 15% on Friday and the S&P 500 had an up week as we closed July down for a second consecutive month. From a technical perspective, we had a lot of movement this week but still remain in that 13-week S&P 500 range bound market channel between a high of 7,620 on 2 June and low of 7,237 on 9 June. For TSP TIPS we made three investment mix changes in July as we mitigated some market risk as all funds Composite Scores and Performance Rankings slipped this month. As such we remain well positioned in this range bound market to optimize our allocation should we see either a bullish or bearish breakout.