Finance

Corporate earnings reports pulled key technology heavyweights in entirely opposite directions. Amazon shares surged over 15% following a blockbuster quarterly report driven by strong cloud-computing growth, marking its largest post-earnings advance in years. Conversely, Apple saw its shares slide over 7% after providing a disappointing growth outlook for upcoming revenues.

U.S. government bond yields extended their upward trajectory, driven by intensifying concerns over lingering inflation and future interest rate hikes. The 10-year Treasury yield advanced to 4.743%, hitting its highest mark since January 2025, while the 30-year yield touched a 19-year peak of 5.274%. The moves intensified after three regional Federal Reserve bank presidents publicly broke ranks, expressing their preference for immediate interest rate hikes to combat stubborn pricing pressures.

Despite a brief stabilization at the end of the week, the broader semiconductor sector closed out July on pace for its steepest monthly decline since October 2008. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF plummeted roughly 16.9% over the month, with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index seeing severe daily fluctuations of at least 2% in every single July session. The immense volatility highlights growing market anxieties regarding the longevity and pacing of heavy corporate capital expenditure on artificial intelligence infrastructure.