Stock market news for July 22, 2026

The S&P 500 ended Wednesday slightly below the flatline, pressured by a rise in oil prices, as investors looked ahead to another busy day of corporate earnings.

The broad market index dropped 0.14% to end at 7,498.96, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.57% to 25,690.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 6.06 points, or 0.01%, and closed at 52,218.58.

Brent crude futures rose about 3.4% to settle at $94.07 per barrel, hitting their highest levels in over a month and briefly topping $95. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed about 3% to close at $86.83.

Oil prices advanced following the 11th straight round of U.S. strikes against Iran, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying Iran is “not serious about talks.”

“If they’re serious, we’re serious. If they’re not, then we will do what is necessary to protect our interests and also the interests of our allies,” he said.

Rubio also said that American forces would “continue to protect shipping” through the Strait of Hormuz.

Traders have kept an eye on oil as they fear it could keep consumer goods prices elevated — which may lead the Federal Reserve to raise rates.

Announcement

“Inflation is definitely elevated, and I don’t think there’s a lot that the Fed can do about it,” said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. “Something that definitely is weighing on the market is where are rates really headed from here?”

As of Wednesday afternoon, fed funds futures traders were pricing in a nearly 34% chance of a rate hike from the Fed this month, up from 10% a week ago. Traders were also pricing in a 78% chance of at least a quarter-point hike in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Earnings take center stage again on Wednesday, with reports due from ServiceNow, International Business Machines, Tesla, Texas Instruments and Alphabet. Investors will be watching closely for updates on AI spending, cloud demand, corporate technology budgets and the outlook for the second half of the year.

Investors remain focused on whether strong demand for AI infrastructure and software will continue to justify elevated valuations across the technology sector as earnings season accelerates.

“It’s really all about orders,” Martin said. “The beat is important; the raise is important, but what’s driving that, which is not necessarily next quarter’s or this year’s earnings, but the anticipation of how long the cycle lasts and how much growth we can expect a year, two years, three years from now.”

“Everybody’s going to be watching the hyperscalers,” he added.

Shares of Super Micro Computer jumped almost 20% on the heels of the server maker forecasting higher margins than expected for the fiscal fourth quarter, with the company saying that it received more than $60 billion in new orders in the period.

Announcement

AT&T shares also saw gains, rising 3.5% following the telecommunications company’s better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. Conversely, shares of GE Vernova dropped more than 8% after the company’s second-quarter earnings missed expectations.