Market Briefings
Daily Market Briefing — August 4, 2026
~5 min readAlertsify Team
Market data as of approximately 9:40 AM ET.
Market setup
U.S. stocks opened higher after Monday's technology-led rally, with the S&P 500 near record territory.
| S&P 500 futures | About +0.2% |
| Dow futures | About +0.2% |
| Nasdaq-100 futures | +0.3% to +0.8% |
| 10-year Treasury | ~4.69% |
| WTI crude | ~$82 (+2.2%) |
| Bitcoin | ~$63,500 |
Oil recovered after Monday's 5% slide as Strait of Hormuz headlines returned. VIX is easing near 15.7.
Key levels (dealer gamma)
| SPY call wall / put wall | 760 / 750 |
| QQQ call wall / put wall | 710 / 680 |
SPY is trading inside the 750–760 gamma pocket — the biggest negative-gamma strike sits at 750 (support magnet on weakness) and the heaviest positive gamma at 760 (resistance/pin candidate). QQQ's equivalent zone is 680–710. Dealer-positioning estimates, not guarantees. Update at the close: the 760 call wall broke at the open and SPY finished at 771.33; QQQ cleared 710 and closed near 724 — see the Close Wrap below.
Top 5 updates
1. Palantir's earnings reignited the AI trade. PLTR surged roughly 14–17% in extended/premarket trading after blockbuster results and a raised full-year outlook. Trading impact: the move is lifting AI-linked names broadly — the risk is chasing the sector after large gaps.
2. Earnings season is unusually strong. About 85% of S&P 500 companies are beating estimates, with aggregate profit growth tracking above 47% this season. Caterpillar and McDonald's are among today's premarket reporters in focus.
3. Semis diverge on AI demand. ON Semiconductor traded up as much as +8% premarket on strong AI-driven results before fading. Micron climbed nearly 5% as storage names rallied.
4. The volatility window: 10:00 AM ET. June trade balance hit at 8:30 AM; JOLTS job openings and factory orders land at 10:00 AM ET — the last major labor reads before Friday's jobs report. Watch yields and QQQ immediately after 10:00 AM.
5. AMD and SpaceX after the close. AMD reports with AI accelerator demand and data-center margins in focus. SpaceX delivers its first quarterly report as a public company.
Today's market calendar
| 8:30 AM ET | June trade balance |
| 10:00 AM ET | June JOLTS job openings |
| 10:00 AM ET | Factory orders |
| 8:15 PM ET | Kansas City Fed's Schmid speaks |
Notable earnings
Already reported / premarket: Palantir (+14–17%), Caterpillar (jumping premarket), ON Semiconductor (volatile after beat), Spotify in focus.
Before the open: McDonald's, Pfizer, Merck.
After the close: AMD — options pricing a ±7.2% move by tomorrow (~$36) and ±8.5% by Friday. SpaceX (first public report) — options pricing a ±14.7% move by Friday (~$18).
Congress corner
Recently disclosed congressional trades (filings are delayed by design):
| Rep. Delaney (D-MD) household — Buy SGI | $15K–$50K · 7/30 |
| Rep. Delaney (D-MD) household — Sell TSCO | $15K–$50K · 7/27 |
| Rep. Delaney (D-MD) household — Buy TDG | $1K–$15K · 7/28 |
| Rep. Delaney (D-MD) household — Sell STE (4 fills) | $1K–$15K each · 7/24–31 |
Social-media trends
PLTR dominates the conversation after its earnings gap. SNAP (+7% premarket) and GRAB (+5%) are drawing retail attention among beaten-down names. AMD vs. SpaceX is the after-hours main event.
Top trades on Alertsify
| SPY 8/3 $754C | +$22,000 (+58%), held 40 min |
| SPXW 8/3 $7600C | +$12,100 (+43%), held 6 min |
| MU 8/3 $800C | +$6,904 (+164%), copy trade |
What matters most today
AI earnings momentum is carrying the tape, but the rally has to survive the 10:00 AM JOLTS print before it can be trusted. With SPY pinned between the 750/760 gamma walls, expect chop until one side breaks; keep position sizes honest into AMD (±7%) and SpaceX (±15%) after the bell.
Close Wrap
Data as of the 4:00 PM ET close. After-hours prices can change before Wednesday’s open.
| S&P 500 | 7,720.01 (+1.6%) — record close |
| Dow | 54,124.20 (+1.8%) — record close |
| Nasdaq-100 | 29,572.77 (+2.8%) |
| Russell 2000 | 3,031.06 (+1.7%) |
| Bitcoin | ~$64,300 (+1.3%) |
Closing prints for the 10-year yield, WTI and the VIX weren’t confirmed at publish time; the 10-year traded near 4.69% and WTI near $82 earlier today.
How the day resolved
Stocks gapped higher after Palantir’s blowout reignited the AI trade and never looked back — a steady grind from the opening bell to the highs. The S&P 500 and Dow both notched record closes and the Nasdaq-100 led at +2.8% as chips and hyperscalers ran: Palantir finished up roughly 15%, Caterpillar gained about 10% on its beat, Micron added 6%, and SpaceX rallied 9.4% into its first-ever report. Earnings breadth did the heavy lifting again, with roughly 85% of S&P 500 reporters beating estimates.
The morning’s test was the 10:00 AM JOLTS print — and the rally survived it. June job openings came in at 7.36M vs. 7.40M expected, a mild miss the tape read as benign ahead of Friday’s jobs report. The gamma map resolved decisively to the upside: SPY opened at ~$760.60, right at the 760 call wall flagged in the morning briefing, and that was essentially the low of the day ($760.52). The wall broke at the open, flipped to support, and SPY closed at $771.33. QQQ cleared its 710 call wall just as fast, closing near $724 — well above the 680–710 pocket.
After hours
AMD beat across the board — adjusted EPS of $1.66 vs. $1.60 expected on $11.54B revenue, data-center revenue up 107% to $6.7B, and a Q3 guide of ~$13B vs. $12.51B consensus — and still fell about 7% after hours, a sell-the-news move in line with the ±7.2% options had priced, after a +5.3% session and a 142% year-to-date run.
SpaceX’s first public report also beat: $7.8B revenue vs. $6.81B expected, $3.5B adjusted EBITDA vs. $2.0B, a net loss narrowed to $541M, and Starlink at 12M subscribers. The stock slipped about 6.5% after hours to roughly $117 following a +9.4% session — well inside the ±14.7%-by-Friday priced move — with Wednesday’s lock-up expiration (up to ~20% of shares) the overhang. Both reactions were still developing through the conference calls.
Tomorrow at a glance
| 8:15 AM ET | ADP private payrolls (July) |
| 10:00 AM ET | ISM Services (July) |
| Earnings | Disney, CVS Health and Uber headline 100+ reporters |
Today’s top trades on Alertsify
| SPXW 8/4 $7685C | +$218,400 (+1,826%), held ~3 hours |
| SPXW 8/4 $7690C | +$148,932 (+2,288%), held ~3.2 hours |
| SPXW 8/4 $7735C | +$47,190 (+1,344%), held ~3 hours |
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This briefing is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Trading involves substantial risk of loss. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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