US Stock Market: Will Wall Street End July On Bearish Note? Nasdaq Crashes 1,092 Points In 1 Month

The US stock market witnessed a sharp buying trend overnight as investors digested the US Federal Reserve's rates decision and welcomed quarterly results of several companies under the "Magnificent 7" ambit. However, overall, July looks like a bearish month for the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500. While the last trading day, July 31st, could potentially pull the Dow Jones and S&P 500 from their red zone on month-on-month performance, but tech-heavy index, Nasdaq is poised for ending July on a weaker note. That is because Nasdaq has crashed by nearly 1,092 points in past 30 days. A host of factors will set the trend for Wall Street on Friday.

These include continued geopolitical risks, elevated crude oil prices, and inflationary concerns that persist with the probability of a rate hike in the September 2026 policy. On July 31st, key economic data scheduled to be released include Chicago PMI, Employment Cost Index, and University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment.

While investors will watch out for earnings of Abbvie Inc. (ABBV), Chevron Corp. (CVX), Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL), Dominion Energy Inc. (D), Eaton Corp. (ETN), Enbridge Inc. (ENB), Linde PLC (LIN), and Natwest Group PLC (NWG).

US Stock Market Latest Performance:

Overnight, the Wall Street saw strong buying trend. The Dows were up by 613.92 points or 1.19% to end at 52,208.06, while S&P 500 index surged by 121.48 points or 1.66% to close at 7,437.63. The Nasdaq Composite index outperformed with a stellar 679.24 points or 2.78% gains to end July 30th trading session at 25,122.18.

The reason are tech stocks. In after-hours trading, Jeff Bezos' Amazon skyrocketed by over 9% after reporting better-than-expected second quarter revenue driven by robust growth in its cloud-computing business and reinforcing optimism over AI-related spending.

Chipmakers also tapped the bull run for Wall Street with stocks like Micron surging 3%, Sandisk gaining 5.4%, AMD rising 3%, Intel soaring 4.3%, and Nvidia who was also up nearly 1%. Broadly, technology, consumer discretionary, and industrial stocks drove the broader market.

However, this was not the case for Apple Inc, who slipped by around 6%, as it missed estimates in terms of revenue but still beat the third quarterly revenue due to iPhone sales which jumped 22% in the latest quarter.

"Stocks rebounded from yesterday's selloff in early trading and Treasury yields rose to long-term highs as investors digested the Federal Reserve meeting and earnings from Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META). Economic growth slowed to 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the first official estimate, but consumer spending was a bright spot," said Charles Schwab in its market commentary.

Also, it pointed out that June's headline Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index decreased 0.1%, while core PCE that excludes volatile food and energy prices rose 0.1%. Analysts had expected a 0.1% pullback in the headline number but a 0.2% increase in the core reading. Annual headline and core PCE were 3.7% and 3.3%, respectively.

Despite the latest uptrend, US stock market is in red on a month-on-month basis with Nasdaq taking the worst hit.

US Stock Market July 2026 Performance:

From June 30th to July 30th, the Dow Jones is down by 111.14 points or 0.21% and the S&P 50 index dropped 61.73 points or 0.82%. But Nasdaq has crashed by an eye-popping 1,091.54 points or 4.16% during this period.

On the last trading day of July, Wall Street will continue to respond to West Asia conflict and its impact globally and economically.

"Geopolitical risks remain elevated as tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate, with the United States and Iran exchanging fresh strikes, underscoring the expanding nature of the conflict. Tehran's latest warning that the U.S. will "pay the price" for its actions has reinforced concerns that the standoff is unlikely to ease in the near term, keeping investors focused on the potential for further escalation and its implications for global markets," said Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money.

He added, energy markets remain a key area of concern. Crude oil prices have surged more than 20% over the past month-one of the strongest rallies in recent years-as the U.S.-Iran conflict continues to heighten concerns over global energy supplies and key shipping routes. WTI crude is currently trading near the $84 per barrel mark.

In the early hours of Friday, US stock futures surged as investors evaluated mega-tech earnings. The DJIA futures are currently up by 218 points, S&P 500 futures are up 30 points, and the Nasdaq 100 futures soared 280.25 points.

July was generally seen as a bullish month for Wall Street. Earlier, Schaeffer's Research report had highlighted that July has been positive 80% of the time over the last 20 years, with an average gain of 2.67%. Over the last 10 years, it has been positive 100% of the time, with an average gain of 3.51%.

But July 2026 seems to take a different course.

Apart from geopolitical risks, Fed rate trajectories, and inflation conundrum, USA market will also be impacted by the President Donald Trump's tariff tantrums.

Trump Tariffs:

Just as Trump administrations temporary 10% global tariffs expired after 150 days, a new tariff plan quickly got into action with effect from July 24.

The Charles Schwab report pointed out that earlier tariff was introduced in February after the Supreme Court invalidated the administration's original emergency-powers tariff strategy. The replacement tariffs are anchored by levies of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 economies that together account for roughly 99.4% of all U.S. imports.

Lastly, Schwab's note said, the change is largely a shift in legal reasoning rather than in tariff levels and indicates how the administration has found new ways to keep tariffs in place as a cornerstone of Trump's economic policy. While the Supreme Court took away one justification, it did not ban tariffs as an approach.