Stock Market Today (July 23, 2026): Nasdaq falls over 2% as tech capex weighs on market, Iran tensions lift oil prices

The U.S. market is now closed. It was all downhill for tech today after Tesla and Alphabet reported earnings yesterday after the close, revealing negative FCF caused by increased capex spending. Here’s a look at the whole market at the close:

In total, 64.0% (3,595) of issues declined, while 31.7% (1,777) advanced. The Nasdaq (-2.15%) fell over two percent, while the S&P 500 (-1.21%) fell over one percent. The Dow (-0.97%) and Russell 2000 (-0.67%) avoided a similar decline.

The Cboe Volatility Index jumped 12% to 18.70, while Brent crude eclipsed $100/bbl on Middle East geopolitical uncertainty. The 10Y Treasury yield hit 4.63%, surpassing highs last seen as the Iran War escalated in May.

The S&P 500 (-1.18%) might not be in as bad of shape as the Nasdaq Composite (-2.19%), but a one percent decline is still a one percent decline. It comes after Big Tech companies Tesla (-13.91%) and Alphabet (-6.35%) reported after the market yesterday, revealing their free cash flow went negative as they poured money into AI-related projects. The index is sinking today on fears it might be a trend for other big names in the sector.

With 67.3% of U.S. issues declining at this point in the day, winners are hard to come by, but here’s the 20 best performing stocks with at least a $2 billion market cap:

Midway through the day, U.S. stocks are still sinking, with the Nasdaq (-2.16%) off over two percent at last glance. Let’s take a look at the names seeing the biggest declines in the market today:

Brian Moynihan says businesses are worried about “the cost of goods that’s coming through the pipeline,” as higher energy costs feed into plastics, materials, manufacturing, and transportation.

Albertsons (ACI) shares tumbled nearly 22% after the retail grocery and drugstore chain missed first-quarter earnings expectations and slashed its full-year profit and sales outlook.

“In the first quarter, our digital and pharmacy businesses continued to deliver strong growth, while core grocery faced increasing pressure from softer industry unit trends and a more cautious consumer,” CEO Susan Morris said in a statement.

“While these results did not meet our expectations, they underscored the need to move faster.”

The company reported adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share for the first quarter, missing the analyst consensus of 54 cents.

For the full year, Albertsons said it now expects net income of between $1.75 and $1.85 per share, down from its previous expectation of between $2.22 and $2.32 per share.

“Given continued softness in industry unit trends and a more cautious consumer, we are accelerating investments and operational changes designed to strengthen our customer value proposition and improve our competitive position,” Morris said.

Lockheed Martin (LMT) surged 10.8% following a strong second-quarter 2026 earnings beat, raised full-year financial guidance, and a record order backlog.

Roper Technologies (ROP) climbed 7.3% following strong second-quarter 2026 financial results, raised full-year profit and revenue guidance, and growing demand for its AI-enabled software products.

Honeywell (HON) gained 6.3% following strong second-quarter earnings, an upgraded full-year profit outlook, and the successful completion of its aerospace spin-off.

On the downside, Tesla (TSLA) tumbled 13.3% following a weaker-than-expected second-quarter profit report, a sharp increase in AI and robotics spending, and negative free cash flow.

Rollins (ROL) fell 9.2% following a disappointing second-quarter 2026 earnings report, analyst downgrades, and compressed profit margins.

Alphabet (GOOG) sank 6.8% following a significant increase in artificial intelligence spending, negative free cash flow, and concerns over AI model delays.

American Airlines (AAL) shares tumbled 7.4% amid a weaker financial outlook, rising jet fuel costs, and disappointing third-quarter profit projections.

The air carrier said it could post steep losses for the year as renewed U.S.-Iran fighting pushes oil prices higher again.

Benchmark Brent crude surged nearly 7% to $100.60 per barrel.

For the current quarter, American Airlines said it could report an adjusted loss of between 70 cents and 10 cents per share, below the 28 cents per share in earnings Wall Street expected.

However, the company forecast revenue to rise between 16% and 19%, above the 16.6% growth analysts projected.

Shares of Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPCX) fell 1.1% to $114.05 in early trading.

The decline pushed SpaceX shares below their $135 IPO price as investors weighed broader concerns about Musk-related companies following Tesla’s earnings report.

Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla (TSLA), tumbled 12.6% to $326.75 after reporting second-quarter 2026 financial results that missed profit expectations and highlighted higher spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.

SpaceX went public on June 12, with shares priced at $135 each.

The U.S. stock market is now open. Stocks fell in early trading as Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOG) earnings sparked selloffs, while surging oil prices added pressure following Red Sea tanker attacks.

The S&P 500 fell 0.86%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.73%, and the Nasdaq sank 1.66%. The Russell 2000 dropped 0.92%.

“The first big night of mega-cap earnings confirmed investor concerns about capital spending,” said TheStreet Pro contributor James “Rev Shark” DePorre. “The reports were mostly good, but the reactions were mostly negative due to indications that high levels of spending will continue for years.”

DePorre added that every dollar of capital spending that pressures hyperscaler margins is a dollar of revenue for the companies supplying the chips, servers, memory, and data center capacity.

“The market punished Alphabet and Tesla for spending and rewarded the companies receiving the spending, all in the same session,” he said.

Tesla and Alphabet both reported quarterly results Wednesday, with investors focusing less on earnings performance and more on rising artificial intelligence infrastructure spending.

The reaction highlighted a growing market debate over whether massive AI investments will translate into stronger future returns.

Alphabet (GOOG) stock fell 5.2% to $324.13 following its second-quarter 2026 earnings report as investors focused on surging capital expenditures, negative free cash flow, and concerns over heavy artificial intelligence spending.

Tesla (TSLA) shares tumble 7.63% to $345.46 following weaker-than-expected second-quarter profits, negative free cash flow, and increased spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is set to launch a range of AI hardware designed to challenge Nvidia (NVDA) on Thursday at an event in downtown San Francisco, Reuters reported.

The semiconductor giant is looking to capture market share from Nvidia in the fast-growing data center chip market, particularly in so-called inference computing — the data processing that occurs when a user queries an AI chatbot such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The company is expected to showcase its data center hardware, including its first-generation server racks called Helios, which it is positioning as a rival to a similar design from Nvidia that is rolling out its second-generation product this year.

AMD is also expected to formally launch its Venice central processing unit (CPU) for data centers.

Shares were down 0.18% in premarket trading.

Oil prices soared after President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iranian infrastructure and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militant group claimed attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.

West Texas Intermediate crude surged 4% to $90.31 a barrel, while Brent crude climbed 4.7% to $93.92 a barrel.

“The fact that the Houthi rebels reportedly attacked two Saudi tankers near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen has increased concerns about further escalation,” Maya Westerlund, Strategy & Macro Research Intern, FICC Markets at Sweden’s SEB, said in a research note.

Westerlund added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran cannot be allowed to control the strait and charge for passage, as doing so would set a “very dangerous precedent” that could spread to other parts of the world.

“Considering the developments in the Red Sea, there are not many who disagree with him,” she said.

Silver futures fell 2.18% to $58.99 an ounce in early trading Thursday.

Gold futures fell 1.44% to $4,092 an ounce in early trading.

The U.S. stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. ET and closes at 4:00 p.m. ET.