PUT IN WORK (8/4/2025)

The stock market had a less-than-stellar week, ending its positive streak and finally taking a much-needed breather. Both major indices were down on the week, with the S&P 500 (SPY) ending down 2.4% and the Nasdaq (QQQ) ending down 2.2%. Despite how the week turned out come Friday’s close, Monday was a different story.

The market started the week very positively as news of the United States-European Union trade agreement was announced, which was—needless to say—a big hurdle for investors. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed the day at new all-time highs, but the coming days proved difficult for investors. The rest of the week was full of essential earnings reports and economic data, including the Fed’s big decision regarding rates.

Tuesday was a bit of a different story as both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell despite hitting all-time highs during market open. Mega-cap tech stocks were mixed, ending the day in the range of down 2% and up 2%. Earnings resulted in uncertainty as well; while companies such as UnitedHealth (UNH) and even Boeing (BA) ended the day down 7.5% and 4% respectively, Corning (GLW) was one of the few big hitters to come out on top, ending the day up 12%. Furthermore, Tuesday marked the first day of the highly anticipated Fed meeting.

Wednesday was what most investors were looking forward to, though. Unsurprisingly, rates remained unchanged, and Jerome Powell didn’t allude to rate cuts in the coming months. Investors were disappointed nonetheless, and indices fell for the second day in a row. Earnings became the focus for most, with many big hitters scheduled to report late Wednesday and late Thursday.

Thursday was another loss for the market at large, although Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) rose 4% and 11% respectively, after better-than-expected earnings were revealed the previous day. Smaller stocks such as eBay (EBAY) and Carvana (CVNA) climbed 18% and 17% higher, respectively, while others such as Arm Holdings (ARM) and Qualcomm (QCOM) fell 13% and 8%, respectively.

Friday saw Apple’s (AAPL) and Amazon’s (AMZN) earnings reports negatively affect the market, with the former ending the day down 2.5% and the latter ending down 8% despite better-than-expected earnings from both tech giants. The real kicker, however, was the jobs report, which came in significantly weaker than anticipated. That being said, it’s not uncommon for these reports to be revised heavily in either direction—this time may be no different, but only time can tell. That aside, just about all mega-cap tech stocks fell on Friday, closing out this quarter’s biggest earnings week with a dud.

(Nasdaq ETF (QQQ) price from July 2024 - 2025 — each candle is 1 week. Chart provided by tradingview.com.)

PORTFOLIO UPDATE

Our portfolio fell rather substantially alongside the market, with some of our positions taking significant losses, such as Enovix (ENVX), whose earnings came in weaker than expected, unfortunately. That being said, our portfolio is generally rather aggressive, and we’re more than used to sharp movements such as these. We plan to hold all currently owned stocks for the foreseeable future. As always, thank you for reading, and happy investing.