EB Daily Market Report - Brief Update - Thursday, July 24, 2025
Our major indices are bifurcated today as the Dow Jones (DIA, -0.48%) and small cap Russell 2000 (IWM, -1.01%) take breathers and pass the torch back to the S&P 500 (SPY, +0.17%) and NASDAQ 100 (QQQ, +0.31%). The S&P 500 has moved further into record-high territory, inching closer to 6400 for the first time in its history. The Dow Jones had moved within just a few points of its all-time high close on Wednesday, before backing off a bit today.
Technology (XLK, +0.49%), after lagging a bit in recent sessions, has regained its leadership role today. Communication services (XLC, +0.43%) and financials (XLF, +0.43%) are performing solidly as well. Semiconductors ($DJUSSC, +1.34%) have regained a little bit of luster. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, +2.28%) and NVIDIA Corp (NVDA, +1.60%) are showing relative strength in the group, while a smaller semiconductor stock, MaxLinear, Inc. (MXL, +11.16%) is soaring after posting robust quarterly results. It gapped nearly 30% higher at the opening bell, but has given back quite a bit of those gains.
Financials are being led by industries that have been very hot - asset managers ($DJUSAG, +1.32%), investment services ($DJUSSB, +1.21%), and banks ($DJUSBK, +0.58%).
Large-cap growth stocks (IWF, +0.33%) are outperforming large-cap value stocks (IWD, -0.15%), so you might notice some of those dividend payers not doing very well today. Discretionary stocks (XLY, -1.59%) have reversed off their recent uptrend as Tesla (TSLA, -8.88%) gets beaten up after a not-so-great quarterly earnings report after the bell on Wednesday. The key trading range to watch there will be 270-290, which marked its recent price lows in early June, then early July. TSLA is still comfortably above both of those levels, but its weighting in the XLY is dragging down the entire sector.
Overall, I'm very happy with how the stock market continues to perform. Outside of normal 3-5% pullbacks, I really see no technical or sentiment issues. Yes, the 5-day SMA of the equity only put call ratio ($CPCE) is on the low side, but that's where it typically hangs out during a secular bull market advance. We should be on the lookout for a big gap higher with selling all day on heavy volume to potentially mark an upcoming period of consolidation/selling, especially once we move into August and get past some big earnings reports next week. For now, though, it remains full speed ahead.
Happy trading!
Tom