Thursday, July 31, 2025
Markets closed out a strong month of July on a particularly weak note. Leading into the month of August, which typically sees lower trading volume and even some pullbacks on the indexes in certain places, market participants sought to ease up on the market rally. The Dow shed -330 points today, -0.74%, the S&P 500 was down -23 points, -0.37%, the Nasdaq only a mere -7 points, -0.03% — although it had gotten up to 21,412 this morning — and the small-cap Russell 2000 dumped -20 points, -0.93%.
A still somewhat murky trade outlook (certainly more fragile than many had expected these trade deals to be by this time in the year) join with recent major economic reports showing the economy warming up again (CPI two weeks ago and PCE this morning) may mean that we really aren’t moving off our current spot too quickly. Aside from the clear “all in” AI investments being made by the top tech firms, things aren’t necessarily getting demonstrably better from this vista for the markets to continue setting record closing highs.
Thus, with the S&P 500 having gained more than +2% for July and the Nasdaq closer to +4%, it’s not the worst time in the world to book a few profits. And we’re not finished with this week’s big news: Friday morning, the nonfarm payrolls and unemployment numbers in the Employment Situation report hit the tape. Plus manufacturing PMI data, construction spending, consumer sentiment and auto sales will greet us tomorrow, as well.
Big Afternoon for Earnings Results: AAPL, AMZN & More
Apple AAPL shares are up nicely in late trading following its fiscal Q3 report, with earnings of $1.57 per share outpacing the $1.42 in the Zacks consensus, and +12% year over year. Revenues of $94.0 billion easily surpassed projections for $88.9 billion in the quarter. Shares are rallying +3% on the news.
We no longer see a breakdown in iPhone and other product sales per quarter, but Apple’s Services segment brought in a record-high $27.4 billion for Q3. This now accounts for nearly 30% of Apple’s revenues. Today’s report is a shot in the arm for the world’s biggest gadget maker, which had been trading down -17% year to date.
Amazon AMZN posted a most impressive Q2 report this afternoon, with earnings of $1.68 per share dominating the $1.33 analysts had expected, on revenues of $167.7 billion which surged past the $162.3 billion estimate. AWS was +18% year over year, and revenue guidance was ratcheted up for the current quarter. Yet shares are trading lower by more than -2% in the after-market, perhaps on lower-than-expected guidance on Operating Income.
Roku ROKU swung to a positive on earnings in its Q2 report out after the bell, with earnings of +$0.07 easily beating the -$0.16 in the Zacks consensus. Revenues of $1.11 billion were an improvement over the$1.07 billion analysts were looking for. Its platform segment grew +18% in the quarter, and is now expected to fetch $4.075 billion for the full year.
Last but not least, Reddit RDDT shares are up +14% in late trading after stomping estimates on both top and bottom lines this afternoon: earnings of +48 cents per share was far better that the +20 cents estimated and the -6 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $499 million rose +78% year over year, and well past the forecast for $427.4 million.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
