Finance

Varying financial results from technology giants created notable dispersion across the sector. Amazon's stock surged roughly 15% following a robust quarterly report that highlighted accelerating cloud-computing revenue and strong artificial intelligence investments, matching an earlier major rally from Microsoft. Conversely, Apple shares plunged after the company issued a conservative revenue forecast tied to ongoing chip constraints.

Long-term U.S. Treasury yields climbed to their highest levels in over a year after three Federal Reserve officials dissented against keeping the benchmark interest rate unchanged, advocating instead for a rate hike to combat persistent inflation. Adding to the macroeconomic pressure, crude oil prices jumped more than 20% in July due to heightened geopolitical tensions involving Iran, further complicating the inflation outlook.

Digital assets pulled back as early geopolitical optimism gave way to renewed caution surrounding monetary policy and central bank actions. Bitcoin dropped below the $64,000 threshold to trade closer to $63,000, underperforming the broader markets alongside Ethereum. Institutional selling pressure from corporate treasuries and spot ETFs contributed to a light contraction in the global cryptocurrency market capitalization.