Opening Comment — Friday, July 24, 2026
DJIA: 51,711.65, down 506.93
S&P 500: 7,408.30, down 90.66
NASDAQ: 25,137.69, down 553.21
Stocks higher following Iran war developments
Stock futures are higher Friday morning as investors monitored escalating Iran-related tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled the possibility of extensive military strikes following the Houthis’ involvement in the war. Meanwhile, investors are awaiting today’s economic releases, including preliminary July purchasing managers’ index (PMI) from the S&P Global and June new home sales. As of 7:28 AM ET, the Dow is rising 0.4%, while the S&P 500 is up 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 is increasing 0.1% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were lower on Thursday as initial jobless claims fell to the lowest level since 1969 and continuing claims for the week prior also decreased. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of Chicago’s National Activity Index for June rose less than expected. The Dow was down 1.0%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.2%. The S&P 500 decreased 1.2% with seven of 11 sectors finishing in negative territory. The Industrials sector was the top performer, rising 1.8%, while the Communication Services sector was the bottom performer, falling 5.2%.
Technical Analysis
None at this time.
On the data front, the preliminary reading of S&P Global’s composite PMI for July is expected to come in at 52.2 versus the prior month’s 51.9, with the manufacturing and services PMIs forecasted at 54.4 and 51.5, respectively, compared to the prior month’s 53.9 and 51.2, respectively. Meanwhile, new home sales are projected to have been at an annualized 607,000 pace in June versus the prior month’s 580,000 pace. The finalized reading of June building permits will be released today.
Across the pond, European stocks are lower in mid-day trading as July’s preliminary manufacturing PMIs for Germany, France, the U.K., and the eurozone came in at 52.2, 50.0, 52.8, and 52.0, while the services PMIs came in at 49.6, 49.8, 51.8, and 51.6 respectively. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s retail sales for June unexpectedly increased by 1.0% month-over-month and showed a larger than expected increase of 4.2% year-over-year (YOY) following upward revisions to last month’s data.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly higher as Australia’s preliminary manufacturing, services, and composite PMIs for July improved to 51.7, 53.0, and 52.6, respectively. Meanwhile, Japan’s preliminary July PMIs also stayed in expansionary territory. The country’s headline national Consumer Price Index for June accelerated to 1.7% YOY.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is slightly lower ahead of today’s U.S. PMI data.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 2.5% lower at $89.87/barrel.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.2% higher at $4,058.27/ounce following a weakening U.S. dollar.