Markets stabilize after brutal sell-off
US stock futures edged higher Friday morning as investors tried to steady the ship after Thursday’s rout, but the week is still on track to end in the red. Dow futures rose roughly 0.4%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.2%, and Nasdaq-100 futures hovered near the flatline as Wall Street attempted to recover from a sharp sell-off led by megacap tech names. Yahoo Finance
The Magnificent Seven meltdown
The scale of Thursday’s damage was extraordinary: the “Magnificent Seven” stocks collectively shed nearly $800 billion in market value in their worst single day since April 2025, a rout triggered by concerns over Alphabet’s and Tesla’s ballooning AI-related spending. The damage wasn’t confined to the US — the sell-off spread into Asian markets, dragging down South Korea’s KOSPI and Japan’s Nikkei. Bloomberg noted the pain was concentrated at the top of the market, with a gauge of megacap stocks suffering its worst session since the tariff-driven rout of April 2025, as investors retreated from risk assets broadly. By session’s end, the S&P 500 had fallen 1.2% — its biggest one-day drop in a month — while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 lost 1.9%. Yahoo Finance + 4
New tariffs add to the pressure
Overnight, President Trump’s next phase of global tariffs took effect, hitting nearly 99.4% of US imports. The new Section 301 tariffs — designed to better withstand legal challenges than earlier measures — impose rates of 10% to 12.5% on the country’s largest trading partners. Notably, the White House carved out exemptions for some energy products, a move aimed at cushioning an economy already grappling with elevated oil prices. Yahoo Finance + 2
Oil spikes on Middle East tensions
Energy markets have been just as turbulent. Brent crude surged above $100 a barrel for the first time in two months on Thursday as an escalating Middle East conflict revived inflation fears — though there’s been some relief since, with Brent futures falling 2% on Friday to trade below $99 after touching the $100 mark. Separately, Fortune’s oil tracker pegged the price at $97.04 per barrel as of Friday morning, down $1.45 from the prior day but still around $27.50 higher than a year ago. Bloomberg + 2
What to watch next
Investors will be watching S&P Global’s flash PMI readings for July on both services and manufacturing, along with new home sales data. On the earnings front, American Express, NextEra Energy, and Verizon are among the companies reporting Friday. Yahoo FinanceYahoo Finance
The bigger picture: This is a rare convergence of three separate shocks hitting at once — an AI-spending scare knocking down the tech giants that have driven most of the market’s gains, a fresh round of tariffs raising costs across nearly all imports, and a geopolitically-driven oil spike reviving inflation worries just as markets were hoping rate cuts were on the horizon. That combination — elevated bond yields, tariff uncertainty, and energy costs — is why strategists are watching this Friday session closely to see whether Thursday’s rout was a one-day panic or the start of something more sustained.
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