Wall Street opened Thursday pulling in two directions at once. The Dow, which closed at a record on Wednesday, gave back a small piece of it, while the Nasdaq edged higher — but underneath the flat headline numbers, a handful of memory-chip and advertising-tech stocks were falling hard after telling investors their next few months won’t be as good as the last few. The pattern of this earnings season is holding: companies are beating estimates and getting sold anyway, because expectations had already run past the results.

The Dow slipped 62 points, or 0.1%, to 54,288 in early trading. The S&P 500 edged up 9 points, or 0.1%, to 7,733, while the Nasdaq gained 45 points, or 0.2%, to 26,409. The Russell 2000 hovered just under the flat line near 3,017, and the volatility index sat around 15.8 — a quiet reading that tells you traders are not braced for a shock.

Wednesday set the stage. The S&P 500 snapped a four-session winning streak as investors locked in profits from technology stocks, even as the Dow climbed to another record high, with the index closing at 7,723.55.

Market Movers

SanDisk was the morning’s heaviest weight. Shares tumbled roughly 9% after the memory-chip maker issued guidance that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. The stock had been one of the year’s biggest winners, up more than 400% in 2026, which is precisely why a merely-good forecast was treated as a disappointment.

Western Digital slid alongside it. The company posted quarterly results that topped analyst estimates, but shares moved lower anyway, suggesting investors were focused more on the outlook than the latest earnings. Both companies sell into the same story — artificial-intelligence data centers buying storage faster than manufacturers can supply it — and both are now being asked how long that shortage lasts.

AppLovin fell hardest of the group. Shares plunged 14% after the advertising technology company delivered earnings that disappointed investors.

SpaceX faces its own test today, unrelated to earnings. A lockup expiration frees employees and early backers to sell for the first time since the June debut, with roughly 911 million shares becoming eligible to trade — more than doubling the stock’s freely tradeable float. The stock has been sitting near all-time lows going in. Eligible to sell is not the same as selling, but with short interest already elevated, the market is watching whether a bid shows up.

Nvidia is the counterweight. The chipmaker rose Wednesday after SpaceX said it would exclusively use Nvidia chips, a gain of more than 3% on the session.

Before the bell, ConocoPhillips, Howmet Aerospace, Datadog and Constellation Energy reported. Cloudflare and Monster Beverage follow after the close, along with Airbnb, DraftKings and Celsius Holdings.

The Labor Picture

The morning’s economic data landed on the strong side. Applications for unemployment benefits edged up to 199,000 in the week ended August 1, staying below 200,000 for a third straight week, with the four-week moving average falling to the lowest level since September 2022. That was an increase of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised 198,000, against economist expectations of 202,000.

In plain terms: almost nobody is getting laid off. That matters for Friday, when the July employment report arrives and gives the Federal Reserve its clearest read yet on whether the labor market is tight enough to keep rate cuts off the table.

Commodities

Oil firmed on diplomacy rather than disruption. West Texas Intermediate traded near $76.03 a barrel, up about 1.1%, with Brent holding around $80 after closing Wednesday at $79.43. The United States, Iran and Oman are negotiating an interim arrangement under which inbound ships would transit Iran’s territorial waters while outbound ships sail through Oman’s waters in coordination with Tehran. Iran’s foreign ministry has said a deal is reachable “if certain third parties do not obstruct this process.”

For businesses across the tri-state area, that negotiation is the number that matters most this week. A functioning Hormuz corridor pulls war-risk insurance premiums down, shortens shipping timelines, and eventually shows up at the diesel pump and in freight invoices. It has not happened yet.

Gold climbed to about $4,327 an ounce, up roughly 0.5% and near multiweek highs — the market’s standing hedge against the deal falling apart. Bitcoin traded near $64,400, little changed.

JBizNews Desk | Wall Street

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