US stocks rise to finish a wild July as Amazon soars, Apple sinks and
inflation worries worsen
[August 01, 2026] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose Friday to finish a wildJuly for Wall
Street as Amazon leaped, Apple sank and rising oil prices worsened
worries about inflation staying high.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% after veering between gains and losses through
the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 276 points, or 0.5%, and
the Nasdaq composite rallied 1% after briefly losing all of an early
1.3% jump.
It’s a fitting finish to July for the U.S. stock market, which lurched
up and down as oil prices shot higher because of the war with Iran and
worries grew about whether Big Tech’s massive investments in
artificial-intelligence technology will translate into profits and
whether chipmaker stocks soared too high in the euphoria around AI.
Friday’s gains sent the S&P 500 to its first winning week in three, but
the main measure of the U.S. stock market nevertheless finished the
month with a tiny loss.
Amazon led the market with a leap of 15.3% after reporting much stronger
profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its profit more
than tripled from a year earlier, thanks in part to an acceleration of
growth in its cloud computing business.
Analysts said that could be a signal Amazon’s huge AI investments are
paying off, and Amazon increased its forecast for how much it will spend
on investments this year.
The reaction was similar to what Microsoft got a day before, when its
stock soared to its best day in nearly 18 years on signals that its AI
investments may also be yielding higher profits.
Chip companies selling the processors and computer memory that such
“hyperscalers” are scrambling to buy swung sharply again on Friday.
Micron Technology, for example, went from an early jump of 6.4% to a
loss of 6.5% before finishing with a fall of 5.9%.
More firmly on the losing end of Wall Street was Apple, which dropped
7.4% despite reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than
expected. Its forecast for revenue growth in the current quarter fell
short of expectations, which executives pinned on a supply crunch in
components getting vacuumed up in the AI boom.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 52.09 points to 7,489.72. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 276.97 to 52,485.03, and the Nasdaq composite
climbed 251.68 to 25,373.85.
The gains came despite another rise in oil prices as uncertainty
continues about when the war with Iran will allow crude to flow freely
again from the Middle East.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 1.2% to settle at $87.93
after careening between $72 and $102 earlier in July.
Higher oil prices have pushed the cost for a gallon of regular gasoline
to an average of nearly $4.11 across the United States, up from $3.85 a
month ago, according to AAA. More expensive oil also puts upward
pressure on prices for virtually every product that rides on a ship,
plane or truck before getting to a customer.
The worries about inflation sent yields in the bond market even higher.
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Specialist Mark Fitzgerald works on the floor of the New York Stock
Exchange, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki
Iwamura)
 The yield on the 10-year Treasury
rose to 4.71% from 4.68% late Thursday and from just 3.97% before
the war with Iran sent oil prices shooting higher. That’s a notable
move for the yield, which moves higher when investors’ expectations
for inflation, economic growth and other factors in upcoming years
are rising.
The leap for the 10-year yield has already sent the average
long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its highest level in a year.
Longer-term yields jumped on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve’s
chairman, Kevin Warsh, promised again to get inflation back down to
2% but refused to say how he plans to get it there. The Fed voted
again to keep its main interest rate steady on Wednesday, even
though inflation remains well above 2%.
Hikes to rates by the Fed could restrain inflation, but they could
also slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and other
investments. President Donald Trump, who nominated Warsh to lead the
Fed, has lobbied for lower interest rates instead of higher.
Warsh has told financial markets that he does not want to give hints
about what the Fed will do with interest rates, saying he wants to
get direct, “unfiltered” messages from them rather than echoes back
of what the Fed has suggested.
But “without clarifying why action was or wasn’t taken already, it’s
hard to see how statements about being committed to hitting its
inflation target aren’t just a bluff,” according to Brian Jacobsen,
chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management.
“The Fed is facing a growing credibility problem,” economists at
Bank of America wrote in a report. Unless data comes in showing less
pressure on inflation in the interim, “it is imperative for the Fed
to pass the September test by hiking rates and delivering an
internally consistent narrative.”
In stock markets abroad, the swings were even wilder for chip
stocks.
Seoul’s Kospi index soared 17.9% for its best day in history. The
index is dominated by two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK
Hynix, and both surged at least 26.8% on Friday.
The Kospi, though, still lost 22% in July despite Friday’s historic
move. That’s after it more than doubled in the first six months of
the year.
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