Wall Street Indexes Hovered Near Record Highs Amid Earnings Optimism

Barry Adams
03 Aug, 2026
New York City

U.S. stocks advanced in Monday's trading as investors prepared for a busy week of earnings and labor market updates. 

The S&P 500 Index increased 0.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.6% ahead of key earnings later in the week. 

This week, about 150 companies are slated to release their quarterly results, including Costco Wholesale, Walt Disney, McDonald's, Kraft Heinz, and Advanced Micro Devices. 

Last week, semiconductor stocks whiplashed after Microsoft and Amazon reiterated their commitment to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure, but Meta Platforms and Apple dropped between 7% and 10% following their quarterly results. 

Global markets edged higher amid renewed interest in high-flying AI-related stocks after positive earnings from Amazon and Microsoft and semiconductor-related IPO listings in Hong Kong. 

Rate decisions from major central banks kept expectations alive for higher rates later in the year.

On the economic front, investors are awaiting Friday's release of July's nonfarm payrolls and weekly jobless data on Thursday. 

The U.S. economy is expected to add 80,000 net new jobs in July, up from 57,000 jobs in the previous month, according to an informal survey conducted by Ticker.com of nine leading economists. 

The West Texas Intermediate crude oil price decreased 5% to $79.77 a barrel after the Trump administration signaled its willingness to resume diplomatic talks with their Iranian counterparts and halted fourteen days of military strikes.  

Despite the suspension of hostilities, tensions in the Middle East remained high as Houthi rebels vowed to continue their attacks on Saudi shipments in Red Sea and Israel kept up its assault in southern Lebanon. 

Over the last six months, the U.S. president has at least 42 times said that the Iran war will be over in a week and that Iran has lost its entire air force, navy, and striking capabilities. 

Across the Atlantic, benchmark indexes in Germany advanced 1.5%, in France rose 1.4%, but in the U.K. decreased 0.1%. 

The sharp decrease in crude oil and natural prices lifted airlines and travel-related stocks and dragged down energy explorers. 

 

U.S. Movers 

Alibaba jumped 4.5% to $127.78 after the company released its latest version of the AI model, Qwen Intelligence 3.8-Max, allowing developers to operate on their local machines. 

Astrazeneca PLC dropped 5.6% to $160.04 over a report that the company is in preliminary merger talks with its U.S. rival Bristol Meyers. 

The potential agreement was first reported by the London-based Financial Times, reporting that the combined company with a market cap of $400 billion could face a fewer regulatory headwinds.