Tech leads S&P 500 sector gainers; Utilities weakest group
Dollar edges down; U.S. crude falls >5%; bitcoin rises; gold up >1%
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield falls to ~4.63%
In just four sessions, including this one, Wall Street has turned decisively higher after a period of sideways trading and some sharp drops.
Leading the charge is the Magnificent Seven group of hotshot companies represented in aggregate by the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF MAGS.K, which is currently up nearly 10% since its July 29 close. Over the same period, the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX has risen nearly 6%.
Within the Mag 7, Microsoft MSFT.O has been a standout gainer, currently angling for a four-day advance of nearly 27%. This was all following the company's quarterly results released after the close on July 29.
Microsoft impressed investors by saying it expects to continue generating cash through fiscal 2027 while providing a capital expenditure forecast below Wall Street estimates following an accounting change.
The post-earnings Microsoft rally was in contrast to a 7% drop in Alphabet GOOGL.O the day after it laid out its hefty spending plans and raised questions about cash burn. However, Alphabet shares quickly turned around and have erased all their post-earnings losses and then some. At last count, they were on track for a four-session gain of nearly 12% even with a 0.9% drop on July 30.
In a research note published late on Monday, JonesTrading's chief market strategist, Michael O'Rourke, added up the gains from the Mag 7 group and poured on some caution.
He noted that the top seven market capitalization contributors over the three sessions represented $2.5 trillion in market value gains in aggregate. These included $721 billion for Microsoft, $625 billion for Amazon.com AMZN.O, $440 billion for Alphabet GOOGL.O, GOOG.O, and for Nvidia NVDA.O, $402 billion.
Then he grouped Broadcom AVGO.O, Micron Technology MU.O, Tesla Inc TSLA.O and Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O, all with market cap gains in the $90 billion to $100 billion range over that timeframe.
"That is a tremendous amount of mega-cap ammunition to expend in just three sessions," O'Rourke wrote, cautioning that "if this is some type of ultra-megacap momentum move, the volatility will cut both ways."
With that in mind, O'Rourke urged caution, saying, "Mr. Market is manic for megacaps."
However, year-to-date gains may add a little context. Even with its recent rally Microsoft is showing an advance of just 2.4% so far in 2026. Amazon's year-to-date gain is now at 20%, as is Alphabet's. And the Mag 7 ETF is up 4% YTD while the S&P 500 is up nearly 13% so far in 2026.
MSFT•
