Market Pulse

AI-generated synthesis of today's market conditions

US equities closed higher on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in a session powered by a decisively soft June inflation report and the opening results of second-quarter earnings season. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) added 0.36% to close at 751.83 on roughly 34.4 million shares, while the cash S&P 500 advanced about 0.4% to settle near 7,544. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) led the majors, climbing 1.12% to 719.71 on roughly 28.7 million shares as the Nasdaq 100 gained about 1.1% to finish near 29,586 behind a strong semiconductor rebound. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) rose 0.35% to 294.51 on roughly 18.1 million shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the outlier, finishing essentially flat near 52,508: the price-weighted index absorbed a 25% single-day collapse in IBM, which alone offset much of the strength carrying the other benchmarks. Volatility eased, with the VIX settling at 16.5.

The session's principal catalyst was the June Consumer Price Index, which cooled to 3.5% year-over-year from May's 4.2%, well below the 3.8% consensus, with core inflation moderating to 2.6% and the headline monthly figure printing a 0.4% decline — the first monthly contraction since 2020. Markets aggressively priced out near-term Federal Reserve hawkishness in response: the U.S. Dollar Index retreated to roughly 100.94, gold firmed to about $4,054 per ounce, and the 10-year Treasury yield eased to roughly 4.6%. The relief was not unconditional, however — an escalating naval blockade and fresh military exchanges around the Strait of Hormuz kept a geopolitical risk premium under the energy complex throughout the session.

Earnings season opened with a stark divergence between financial strength and legacy-technology weakness. JPMorgan Chase reported its highest quarterly profit on record at $7.70 per share, though that figure was flattered by roughly $5.6 billion of one-time gains, chiefly a $4.6 billion gain on its Visa stake; excluding those items earnings were $6.14 per share. Its shares added about 2.5%, while Goldman Sachs surged roughly 9% on a significant beat. On the other side of the tape, IBM fell 25.2%, its worst single session in the 64 years of trading history covered by daily data and a steeper drop than it took on Black Monday in 1987, after preliminary second-quarter revenue of $17.2 billion missed consensus near $17.9 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.93 per share fell short of the roughly $3.01 expected. Management attributed the shortfall to clients redirecting capital away from traditional software and mainframe systems toward AI hardware, servers and memory.

Sector leadership was spearheaded by a powerful semiconductor rebound — Nvidia gained about 4.1%, Micron added about 4.9%, and Broadcom rose about 1.3% — with the technology sector ETF XLK up about 1.3% atop the sector board, and financials provided a second pillar of support as most major institutions finished higher. The strength contrasted sharply with software-centric mega-caps, where Microsoft shed 1.55% and Apple slipped 0.77%, and with health care, the day's laggard, as XLV fell about 1.9% while industrials closed essentially flat. Energy remained firm on the Hormuz disruption risk, with WTI crude settling near $80 — up roughly 40% year-to-date — and Brent trading above $85.

Technically, the market remains structurally constructive but the day's participation was narrower than the index gains suggest. SPY closed above both its 50-day moving average near 742.65 and its 200-day near 695.37, and QQQ held just above its 50-day near 717.20, while the VIX eased to 16.5. Under the surface, however, the equal-weight S&P 500 proxy RSP slipped 0.36% even as cap-weighted SPY gained 0.36% — a sign that semiconductors and banks carried the tape while the average stock lagged. In fixed income, the CPI relief reached the front of the curve but largely bypassed the long end: the 30-year Treasury yield closed near 5.08%, its sixth consecutive close above 5%, and on Treasury data there have been only 38 closes above 5% since 2008 — 22 of them this year — while the long-bond ETF TLT sat near $84 after breaking below a key support zone in recent sessions.

Tactically, initial resistance for SPY sits near 758, then the 52-week closing high near 759.5 and 765, with first support near 745, the 50-day moving average near 742.5, and deeper support at 735. QQQ faces overhead near 722, then 730 and its 52-week closing-high area near 746, with support at the 50-day near 717, the session low near 714, and the prior close near 712. The near-term path hinges on the Federal Reserve Chair's congressional testimony, where prepared remarks signaling no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation suggest policy could stay restrictive for longer than bulls anticipate even after the soft CPI print. With CNN's Fear and Greed gauge at 43, still in Fear territory, a split analyst panel, and constructive-but-narrow technicals, the composite read lands at Neutral 51.