Weekly Recap

• The market pulled back. Equity markets closed sharply lower Friday following a softer-than-expected jobs report. For the week every major index closed lower. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ fell for the third week in a row and the Dow snapped a four-week string of gains. The S&P 500 still managed to finish July with a 1.1% gain as the index posted its eighth positive month out of the past nine. 
• Disappointing job data. Investors saw the unemployment rate rise to its highest since 2021 while nonfarm employment grew by only 114,000 in July, well below expectations for 175,000. The unemployment rate rose to 4.3% from 4.1% the previous month.
• Mortgage rates plunged to the lowest level in more than a year. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage dropped 22 basis points to 6.4% Friday, according to Mortgage News Daily.
• The Bond markets went higher on soft labor-market news. The 10-year Treasury yield declined nearly 20 basis points (0.2%) to around 3.8%, while the policy-rate-sensitive 2-year yield declined by nearly 30 basis points (0.3%) to 3.88%.
• International markets headed lower. Asian markets were sharply lower overnight, with Japan's Nikkei shedding nearly 6%, while European markets sold off as well on U.S. growth concerns.
• Earnings season continued this week. The biggest technology companies reported uneven results. Despite recent volatility, earnings at an index level have been strong for the second quarter. Roughly 75% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported second-quarter results and about 78% of those companies surpassed expectations.
• The U.S. Federal Reserve held off on cutting interest rates. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that an initial reduction could be on the table for its next meeting in mid-September if inflation continues to ease. 
• Gold futures hit record levels higher while gold hit the $2,500-per-ounce level on Friday for the first time ever. Gold's price was up 4% for the week; year to date, the price was up about 20%.
• Oil settles at 8-month low after disappointing US job numbers. Brent crude futures settled down $2.71, or 3.41%, to $76.81 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled down $2.79, or 3.66%, at $73.52.
• Berkshire sold off a lot of Apple. It was revealed that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold nearly half its stake in Apple in the last quarter. 

Most Active Stocks

• Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
• Ford Motor (F)
• Apple, Inc. (AAPL)
• Tesla (TSLA)
• Amazon (AMZN)

Biggest Gainers

• Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. (TNDM) +18.35%
• Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (RARE) +14.31%
• Rocket Companies, Inc. (RKT) +12.30%
• Twilio Inc. (TWLO) +11.71%
• DoorDash, Inc. (DASH) +8.35%

Biggest Losers

• Snap Inc. (SNAP) -26.93%
• Intel Corp. (INTC) -26.06%
• Universal Display Corporation (OLED) -18.99%
• FormFactor, Inc. (FORM) -13.44%
• Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NMR) -11.21%

Weekly Notables

Analyst Says Amazon is Still in Growth Mode

Amazon released its second-quarter results this week, missing out on revenue expectations but beating profit expectations. The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.26 per share versus an expected $1.04 per share. The company's third-quarter revenue and operating guidance also fell below expectations. According to Citizens JMP equity research analyst Nick Jones, who spoke to Market Domination, "Amazon still has global expansion opportunities. They continuously want to deliver things faster and faster. It's a really unique company too when you think about their advertising opportunity in combination with the retail." The analyst said that though the company is "massive" it is "still very much in growth mode. "Jones points out that AWS "outperformed" so the disappointing Q3 guidance was "a little bit of a surprise."

July is a Record for ETFs

State Street Global Advisors finds inflows into exchange-traded funds hit $127 billion. This was the best July ever and the firm's head of SPDR Americas research notes also confirmed it was the second largest monthly inflow ever. "Part of it is just the market,” Matt Bartolini told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on Thursday. “We see investors deploy cash from the sidelines. A lot of cash was built up over the years. We started to see investors really make a concerted effort to continue to buy into this rally. We also saw sort of broadening in the market depth in terms of rotation take place.”

Massive Job Cuts at Intel

Intel has revealed that the company is cutting 15% of its workforce, which translates to around 17,000 jobs. The news comes only months after the federal government gave Intel $8.5 billion in grants to help bring back chipmaking to the U.S., the company. "This is an incredibly hard day for Intel as we are making some of the most consequential changes in our company’s history," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a note to employees this week. "Simply put, we must align our cost structure with our new operating model and fundamentally change the way we operate."

The Week Ahead

• There isn't considerable economic data to deal with in the next week (other than Thursday's Initial and Continuing Claims reports). Investors should watch for any vulnerability linked to headlines that weigh on global uncertainty.
• Data expected this week includes: The Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing index on Monday. The Trade balance, U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday. The Consumer credit, U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday. And weekly unemployment claims, U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday.
• More earnings are on tap this week. Tyson Foods releases results on Monday, Caterpillar Inc., Uber Technologies, Airbnb, Amgen, and Devon Energy Corp. are scheduled to release on Tuesday. Wednesday will have results from Walt Disney Co., CVS Health Corp., Equinox Inc., and Occidental Petroleum Corp. Results scheduled for Thursday include Eli Lilly & Co., Expedia Group, Inc., and Gilead Sciences. Legend Biotech Corp. and Evergy Inc. will report on Friday. 
   

Earnings Spotlight: Tyson Foods
 

This week Tyson Foods will be reporting results on Aug. 5. The company is expected to post third-quarter earnings per share of 61 cents, up 306% over the year-ago period ending June 30. Estimated net income will be $217 million in the fiscal quarter, up from a net loss of $417 million a year ago when Tyson incurred one-time charges of $448 million. Fiscal third-quarter revenue is forecast at $13.21 billion, down slightly from the $13.41 billion recorded a year ago. Analysts said Tyson is expected to benefit from 30% lower grain costs, and increased consumer demand for chicken and lower-priced meats than beef.