S&P 500 Wavers as Chip Rout Offsets Oil Decline: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders sent stocks wavering at the end of a jittery week, with a slide in chipmakers offsetting a drop in oil and signs of strength in Corporate America’s profit machine.
While most shares in the S&P 500 rose, a key gauge of semiconductor shares dropped about 4.5%. The Nasdaq 100 slipped 1.2%. Brent crude slid from $100 as oil was still managing to traverse Middle East trade routes despite the hostilities. The retreat in energy prices eased fears about inflationary pressures, sending Treasury yields down just days ahead of the Federal Reserve decision.
While geopolitical tensions remained high, hopes for mediated talks between the US and Iran brought a degree of relief. Pakistan is exploring a path toward reviving negotiations, following a push initiated by China, according to Reuters. Meantime, President Donald Trump met with top advisers to decide whether to intensify the attacks, the New York Times reported.
The risk of further escalation is elevated, and a retest of oil price highs from earlier this year cannot be ruled out should military actions intensify, according to Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Chief Investment Office. Still, she expects energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz to recover over time.
“This means that inflationary pressure should subside as the year progresses, and that an aggressive tightening cycle remains unlikely in the near term,” she said.
“As we have seen multiple times in the past few years, equity markets tend to overreact to war developments, partly because war events tend to create uncertainty,” said Thomas Lee at Fundstrat Global Advisors. “But these periods of risk-off have been buying opportunities in the past, and we expect this to be the case again.”
Among the reasons for optimism, Lee cited a solid earnings season. About 85% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far have exceeded profit estimates, the highest proportion in five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
Traders are getting ready for next week’s reports from megacaps including Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Apple Inc. Wall Street has been looking for more convincing evidence that the vast sums being poured into AI are generating new growth rather than weighing on profits.
On the economic front, US business activity expanded at the fastest pace in eight months as strong domestic demand for services offset cooling factory production, growing supply chain delays and rising costs. New-home sales climbed in June.
Corporate Highlights:
Intel Corp.’s upbeat quarterly report, which handily beat Wall Street estimates, still left a major question: how soon the chipmaker will line up outside customers for its factories. Qualcomm Inc., the biggest maker of smartphone processors, plans to increase prices by a percentage in the double digits, a move that’s likely to ripple through much of the tech industry. BlackRock Inc. began marketing $12.3 billion of high-grade bonds to fund a Meta Platforms Inc. data center project as investors grapple with concerns about excessive AI infrastructure spending. Anthropic PBC is rolling out a new artificial intelligence model that is meant to handle workplace tasks adeptly and affordably, a key selling point as some customers grow more cost conscious and competition increases in China. American Express Co. said second-quarter expenses surged 12% as it spent more on marketing to attract and retain premium cardholders. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 was little changed as of 2:41 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.2% The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% The MSCI World Index was little changed Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1368 The British pound was little changed at $1.3325 The Japanese yen was little changed at 163.85 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 1.6% to $64,085.96 Ether fell 1.4% to $1,858.36 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.68% Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 3.17% Britain’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 5.03% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.3% to $89.17 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.1% to $4,054.46 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
