Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.43%) is in last place on Monday afternoon, down about 222 points.

A look inside the DJIA shows that Apple (AAPL 324.58, -9.16, -2.74%), Boeing (BA 209.65, -4.38, -2.05%), and Home Depot (HD 332.38, -6.49, -1.92%) are some of today's top laggards.

Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT 401.99, +8.17, +2.07%) is atop the average.

The DJIA now extends losses to -1.39% over the last 2+ sessions.

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%), and DJIA (-0.2%) trade in a stable range just after midday. Stocks have given back some of their opening strength, though a solid rebound across semiconductor names still underpins the mostly higher standing of the major averages.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index is up 1.9%, with AI infrastructure names such as Lumentum (LITE 783.69, +50.87, +6.94%) and Teradyne (TER 339.19, +16.84, +5.22%) posting some of the widest gains. Memory names such as Micron (MU 888.60, +39.65, +4.67%) are also outperforming after Bloomberg reported that Kimi K3, the latest model from Chinese company Moonshot AI that added pressure across semiconductor stocks last week, requires a large amount of memory to operate.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 509.11, +13.35, +2.69%) is a standout among large chipmakers after news that Microsoft (MSFT 401.79, +7.97, +2.02%) will deploy AMD's Helios Rackscale Solution for frontier-model AI inference, while Azure will add two EPYC "Venice"-powered VM series and broaden its deployment of Pensando DPUs. AMD will begin shipping Helios to customers, including Microsoft, in 2H26.

The information technology sector (+0.6%) is off its earlier session highs, with some pressure in some of its largest non-chipmaker components such as Apple (AAPL 324.35, -9.39, -2.81%) and Oracle (ORCL 122.49, -3.92, -3.10%) limiting the gains.

Overall, the mega-cap complex tilts higher, with the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF up 0.5%. Alphabet (GOOG 354.27, +8.15, +2.35%) is a standout ahead of its earnings release later this week, helping the communication services sector (+1.5%) outperform.

Elsewhere, the energy sector (+1.1%) also outperforms after what was a somewhat choppy morning for oil prices. News of an increasingly deadly exchange of fire between the U.S. and Iran has been somewhat tempered by headlines of intermediaries becoming involved in negotiations. Crude oil is currently flat at $81.78 per barrel.

Market breadth has deteriorated since this morning's relatively strong open, with seven S&P 500 sectors now trading lower. However, the losses are relatively modest in nature. The defensive consumer staples (-0.8%), utilities (-0.7%), and health care (-0.6%) sectors are among the laggards as investors rotate back into semiconductor names today.

Although participation has narrowed since the open, the major averages remain mostly higher as semiconductor stocks attract solid buying interest following last week's retreat. Trading has settled into a relatively narrow range amid a light corporate news calendar, with investors looking ahead to a consequential slate of earnings reports later this week.

Reviewing today's data:

• June Leading Economic Index -0.2% (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%); Prior 0.1%

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages continue to move off their session lows, with the DJIA (-0.1%) looking to reclaim its flatline.

Honeywell Aerospace (HONA 207.73, -3.90, -1.84%) is trading lower again and is now down roughly 12% since beginning regular-way trading on June 29, when Honeywell (HON 226.53, +1.51, +0.67%) completed the spin-off of its aerospace business. The weakness partly reflects normal post-spin price discovery and potential selling by former Honeywell shareholders who did not want dedicated aerospace exposure, but investors are also focused on persistent supply-chain constraints affecting engines and other products, including limited availability of critical castings and forgings.

Honeywell Aerospace also entered the public market carrying approximately $16 billion of debt and plans to prioritize investment in factories, suppliers, and production capacity over near-term dividends or share repurchases, reducing the immediate capital-return appeal of the standalone company. Overall, the decline suggests investors want clearer evidence that Honeywell Aerospace can convert its strong demand and $19 billion backlog into sustained production growth, margin expansion, and free cash flow before assigning the stock a premium aerospace valuation.

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages remain mostly higher, little changed from previous levels.

On the earnings front, AMC Entertainment (AMC 2.32, +0.38, +19.59%) is surging higher after delivering a clear Q2 earnings beat, with adjusted EPS of $0.14 versus the FactSet consensus of $0.00 and revenue of $1.60 billion versus approximately $1.47 billion expected. The company said the quarter produced the highest quarterly revenue and adjusted EBITDA in AMC's 106-year history, with adjusted EBITDA reaching a record $321.4 million and free cash flow totaling approximately $190 million, while post-quarter attendance tied to the opening weekend led by The Odyssey pointed to continued momentum entering Q3.

Domino's Pizza (DPZ 328.44, +6.26, +1.94%) is also trading higher after reporting Q2 results, as investors looked past another EPS miss and focused instead on slightly better-than-expected revenue and encouraging order growth. While U.S. same-store sales remained sluggish, the results suggest customer traffic may be stabilizing despite a difficult consumer environment. Revenue increased 4.3% year-over-year to $1.19 billion, slightly topping expectations, although adjusted EPS missed estimates for the third consecutive quarter and the fourth time in the past five quarters.

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.4%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%), and DJIA (-0.2%) are mostly higher just before midday as semiconductor stocks recover from last week's slog against a backdrop of deteriorating strength in the broader market.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index is up 2.1%, supported by broad strength that includes both large chipmakers and memory names. However, the information technology sector (+0.6%) has given up much of its earlier strength as it faces pressure in some of its largest non-semiconductor names, including Apple (AAPL 324.87, -8.87, -2.66%) and Oracle (ORCL 122.44, -3.97, -3.14%).

A solid early rebound in Alphabet (GOOG 356.11, +9.99, +2.89%) after a tough week helps the communication services sector (+1.7%) outperform, while the energy sector (+0.9%) also moves higher amid a choppy morning for oil prices. Crude oil currently holds a modest loss for the session, but remains above the $81 per barrel mark. Treasury yields are higher across the curve, putting pressure on some rate-sensitive pockets of the market.

A total of six S&P 500 sectors trade lower, though the losses are all contained to 0.5% or narrower.