EB Daily Market Report - Brief Update - Thursday, July 30, 2026

We now have 4 of the Mag 7 quarterly earnings reports in the books. Meta Platforms (META, -8.73%) joined last week's big loser, Tesla (TSLA), as Mag 7 companies whose relative weakness told a tale. They both missed earnings estimates and investors paid the price. Microsoft (MSFT, +16.67%), on the other hand, blew away estimates and came through for investors after its chart began showing some improvement in the past few weeks. The MSFT report has lifted many software names ($DJUSSW, +8.96%) at a time when many needed lifting. The improvement on the absolute price chart of the DJUSSW is rather obvious, but the lower panel shows that the group still has a lot of work to do to clear its next key relative resistance level:

Q2 GDP had an initial reading that slowed from Q1 more than expected. Consensus estimates had Q2 GDP pegged at 1.8%, slightly below the final 2.1% reading for Q1. Instead, Q2 actual GDP was reported at 1.5%, potentially aiding the more dovish Fed governors. There's much more data to digest over the next 1-2 months, however, before the next Fed policy decision in mid September. And the 10-year treasury yield ($TNX) didn't really react the way I would have expected to the weak GDP number. The TNX has jumped 4 basis points to 4.66%.

After the close today, we'll get two more Mag 7 reports, including Apple (AAPL, -1.32%) and Amazon (AMZN, +5.67%). AMZN will be looking to add onto today's strength in consumer discretionary stocks (XLY, +1.01%), which trails only technology (XLK, +5.66%). Meanwhile, AAPL has shown strength recently and is arguably the strongest Mag 7 stock heading into earnings. Will that translate into quarterly revenue and earnings beats? Will AAPL raise guidance? I believe we'll see it, but the proof will come after 4:00pm ET.

Semiconductors ($DJUSSC, +6.49%) are joining software in taking the XLK considerably higher. Lam Research (LRCX, +19.17%) is surging after reporting quarterly results. The semiconductor equipment manufacturer likely allayed some fears after a peer, KLA Corp (KLAC, +6.09%), reported its results the prior day and sent semiconductor shares lower.

All in all, it's a solid bounce back day for many AI and technology stocks, but there needs to be more repair work done on daily charts that have seen significant breakdowns. The good news, at least temporarily, is that the strength in semiconductors today likely will help avoid another leverage-forced selloff in the morning. That doesn't mean we don't go back down, but I don't think it'll be a forced selloff.

Happy trading!

Tom