AI Stocks Close
🔔 AI Stocks Close — Thursday, July 30, 2026 at 2:15 PM
Closes: SPX 7,555 (+1.7%) · NDX ~26,900 (+3.4%) · DJI 52,208 (+1.2%)
Day narrative: Microsoft single-handedly handed back most of the week's Fed-scare losses in one session, with a blockbuster Azure quarter triggering a tech-wide rebound; Amazon then dropped its own beat after the bell to keep the momentum alive.
Sectors: Best Technology (+3.4%) · Worst Communication Services (META dragging, -9.3%)
Movers:
• MSFT +15.4% — Azure +43% at constant currency, Q2 revenue $90B vs. $87.6B est.; largest single-day market cap gain on record for any company
• SMCI +24% — preliminary Q4 results showed $60B+ record backlog; raised gross margin guidance to 15–17%
• ARM +7.1% — Q1 FY27 beat; 500M Neoverse AI cores shipped in nine months vs. six years for the first billion — the AI core ramp is real
• META -9.3% — missed EPS, raised AI capex again; investors did the math and didn't like it
• LRCX +18.2% — fiscal Q4 beat, AI-driven demand for chip equipment accelerating
• IONQ / quantum cohort — IONQ down ~30% trailing month; sector-wide unwind deepens ahead of Friday's SkyWater acquisition close
After-hours / Earnings:
• AMZN reported Q2 beat — EPS $2.78 vs. $1.64 est., revenue $181.5B (+16.6% YoY), AWS +28% (fastest in 15 quarters), +4.5% AH
Watchlist:
• MU ~$760 (+2.8%~) [bouncing from July 29's -9.9% drop to $739]
• NVDA $193.97 (+2.1%)
• MSFT $455.92 (+15.4%)
• GOOGL $332.60 (-0.9%) [already reported Q2 July 24, consolidating]
• META $532.81 (-9.3%)
• AMZN $237.53 (+4.8%, +4.5% AH)
• AAPL $333.78 (-1.3%)
• AMD ~$432 (~flat, +0.5%~)
• TSLA $305.74 (+2.5%)
• PLTR ~$122 (~-1%~, reports Aug. 3)
• ARM ~$241 (+7.1%)
• SMCI +24% [price est.; preliminary Q4 blowout]
• ORCL ~$119 (~flat~)
• SOUN ~est. slight gain on AI sentiment
• IONQ ~$33 (down ~30% trailing month)
• BBAI ~est. flat/slightly positive
• AVGO ~$386 (~flat~)
• CRM ~$435 (~-2%~, IBM software drag)
• ADBE ~est. -4% (IBM client-shift warning fallout)
• IBM ~$226 (~flat~, recovering from July 14 -25% crash)
• SNOW ~est. flat/mixed
• MDB ~est. flat/mixed
• NET ~est. flat
• CRWD ~$745+ (cybersecurity outperforming)
• TSM ~est. +1–2%, AI demand narrative intact
• ASML ~est. flat; down ~6% trailing month
Macro:
• Fed held 3.50–3.75% (July 29); Hammack, Kashkari, Logan dissented for a hike — that's a material hawkish bloc
• FOMC's own 2026 rate range forecast shifted up to 3.6–4.1%; cuts are off the table
• Jersey Mike's IPO debuted today, -3.5% from listing price ($7.3B valuation)
IPO/Funding Watch:
• Anthropic: investor roadshow meetings underway since July 15 at $965B valuation; targeting October listing; S-1 filed June 1
• OpenAI: reportedly weighing a slip to 2027 following SpaceX's rocky debut
Tomorrow: Amazon post-earnings call digest; IonQ/SkyWater Technology acquisition expected to close; end-of-month portfolio rebalancing — watch for technicals to reassert after today's gap-up open.