Weekly Market Recap | July 27 – Aug 02

Analyst Highlights

• Large-cap technology led market growth: Large-cap technology remains the market’s primary growth engine, but weak Russell 2000 performance shows gains are still narrowly concentrated.
• Investor confidence improved: Falling volatility suggests improving investor confidence, although rising bond yields could challenge equity valuations and financing conditions.
• Oil-market risks remained uneven: Brent’s gain alongside falling WTI reflects uneven supply risks as Middle East disruptions reshape global crude pricing.
• Federal Reserve uncertainty increased: Limited rate guidance has increased uncertainty around future policy, keeping stocks and bonds sensitive to incoming economic data.
• IPO demand remained selective: Strong debuts for Apnimed and Jersey Mike’s indicate investor interest, while weaker listings show pricing discipline remains essential.
• AI infrastructure investment accelerated: Nearly $2.4 trillion in Big Tech commitments confirms data centers, power generation and advanced chips remain central investment themes.

IPO’s in the week

• Apnimed (APMD, Nasdaq) — began trading on July 31 after offering 10 million shares at $16.00 each, raising approximately $160 million. Shares traded 56.25% above the offer price.
• Churchill Capital X (XIIIU, Nasdaq) — began trading on July 31 after offering 30 million units at $10.00 each, raising approximately $300 million. Units traded 3.60% above the offer price.
• Game Your Game (GYGY, Nasdaq) — began trading on July 30 after offering approximately 16.1 million shares at $8.00 each, raising approximately $128.6 million. Shares traded 43.18% below the offer price.
• Jersey Mike’s Subs (JMKE, NYSE) — began trading on July 30 after offering approximately 43.5 million shares at $23.00 each, raising approximately $1 billion. Shares traded 6.33% above the offer price.
• Reformation (REF, NYSE) — began trading on July 30 after offering approximately 14.1 million shares at $15.00 each, raising approximately $210.9 million. Shares traded 7.56% above the offer price.
• IMC Rare Earths (IMC, NYSE American) — began trading on July 29 after offering 4 million shares at $5.00 each, raising approximately $20 million. Shares traded 5.92% above the offer price.
• Catalyst Acquisition (CATLU, Nasdaq) — began trading on July 28 after offering 20 million units at $10.00 each, raising approximately $200 million. Units traded 0.10% above the offer price.
• Ionic Digital (IOND, Nasdaq) — began trading on July 28 after offering approximately 10.8 million shares at $53.00 each, raising approximately $572.4 million. Shares traded 0.09% above the offer price.

Markets Weekly

1. S&P 500 closed at 7,489.72, rising 76.54 points, or 1.03%, for the week.
2. Russell 1000 closed at 4,076.38, rising 36.82 points, or 0.91%, for the week.
3. Russell 2000 closed at 2,931.34, falling 16.70 points, or 0.57%, for the week.
4. Russell 3000 closed at 4,256.18, rising 35.81 points, or 0.85%, for the week.
5. CBOE VIX closed at 15.99, falling 2.68 points, or 14.35%, for the week.
6. Dow Jones closed at 52,485.03, rising 274.95 points, or 0.53%, for the week.
7. Nasdaq Composite closed at 25,373.85, rising 441.77 points, or 1.77%, for the week.
8. Bitcoin closed at $63,649.85, falling $75.05, or 0.12%, for the week.
9. Ethereum closed at $1,891.00, rising $0.39, or 0.02%, for the week.
10. Solana closed at $74.07, falling $0.07, or 0.09%, for the week.
11. XRP closed at $1.0886, rising $0.0206, or 1.93%, for the week.
12. Gold closed at $4,131.10, rising $56.60, or 1.39%, for the week.
13. Silver closed at $58.66, rising $0.19, or 0.32%, for the week.
14. WTI Crude closed at $79.94, falling $2.67, or 3.23%, for the week.
15. Brent Crude closed at $90.12, rising $1.76, or 1.99%, for the week.

• Fed held interest rates at 3.50%–3.75%, but Kevin Warsh’s limited guidance heightened uncertainty and triggered volatility across stocks and bonds.
• Fed uncertainty deepened the Treasury selloff, pushing 30-year yields to a 19-year high and raising borrowing costs across the economy.
• Exxon and Chevron warned fuel prices may stay elevated as war sidelines nearly 10% of global refining capacity, tightening supplies.
• Euro-area inflation rose to 2.9%, with markets pricing a 90% chance of a September ECB rate hike after energy costs surged.
• US payroll growth is forecast to rebound to 85,000 in July, while unemployment holds at 4.2% despite underlying labor-market weakness.
• OPEC+ approved a 188,000-barrel-a-day quota increase for September, while warning energy-infrastructure attacks could intensify market volatility.
• Japan and the US coordinated currency intervention, strengthening the yen to 157.40 per dollar as Tokyo sought greater market confidence.
• Taiwan’s economy grew 13.72% in the first half, its fastest pace in 50 years, driven by exports, investment and consumption.

Politics Weekly

• US and Iran resumed airstrikes, widening the conflict as attacks reached Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Red Sea shipping.
• Trump delayed new Iran strikes as Tehran and Oman neared a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and address nuclear tensions.
• Pentagon seeks $67 billion in emergency funding, including $18.2 billion to replenish Patriot, THAAD and Tomahawk missile inventories.
• US and China exposed lingering trade tensions before the Xi-Trump summit, clashing over restrictions, rare earths and agricultural commitments while pledging dialogue.
• Russia struck Kyiv with missiles and drones, killing nine, as Ukraine hit Russian oil facilities and sought more air defenses.
• Trump warned China against arming Iran, saying weapons sales could trigger tariffs and further strain US-China relations amid the Iran war.

Technology Advancements in the week

• Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon committed nearly $2.4 trillion to AI infrastructure as surging computing demand drives data-center expansion.
• Anthropic and OpenAI cyber failures exposed weak AI safeguards, raising national-security concerns over autonomous systems conducting real-world attacks.
• Alibaba launched Qwen3.8-Max, a 2.4-trillion-parameter open-weight model claiming Anthropic-level performance at competitive pricing.
• Apple’s Siri AI will debut in iOS 27 as the default chatbot, intensifying competition with ChatGPT.
• NextEra and Brookfield plan a $100 billion Kentucky data-center campus with 2 gigawatts of gas power and battery storage.

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