Market Week: July 26, 2021
The Markets (as of market close July 23, 2021)
Last week proved to be a choppy one for stocks. The week began with stocks trending lower on news of a
spike in the number of coronavirus cases. However, strong corporate earnings reports helped support the
perception that the economy is continuing to advance, despite the cloud of the Delta variant hanging
overhead. By last Friday, both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached record highs, with megacap tech
stocks helping drive the indexes upward. The Nasdaq gained 2.8% to lead the major benchmark indexes,
followed by the Russell 2000, the S&P 500, the Dow, and the Global Dow. Yields on 10-year Treasuries
dipped 2.0 basis points lower, while the dollar and crude oil prices each ended the week higher. Gold
prices, which had been climbing, took a slight step back, falling about 0.5%.