Daily Market Briefing — August 5, 2026

Daily Briefing — Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Market data as of approximately 8:30 AM ET.

Market setup

Stocks are looking to extend Tuesday's record-setting rally (S&P 500 +1.8%, Nasdaq +2.6%, Dow +1.7%), powered by Palantir and Caterpillar earnings and hopes for a U.S.–Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

S&P 500 futures	+0.3%
Nasdaq 100 futures	Flat
Dow futures	+0.2%
10-yr Treasury yield	4.61%
WTI crude	~$76.50 (+1.5%)
Bitcoin	~$64,000

Premarket movers: SHOP up about 24% on its Q2 beat, DIS +3% after a profit beat, AMD down about 9%, SPCX down about 7%, UBER down about 4%.

Key levels (dealer gamma, from Tuesday's close)

SPY (premarket ~775)	Call wall 760 (then 765) · Put wall 753 (then 755)
QQQ (premarket ~725)	Call wall 710 (then 720) · Heaviest put gamma 705

Both ETFs gapped above their largest positive-gamma strikes after Tuesday's rally, so overhead dealer positioning is thin — moves can run further in either direction until new strikes build. These are dealer-positioning estimates, not guarantees.

Top 5 updates

1. AMD sinks ~9% despite a beat. Q2 topped estimates and Q3 revenue guidance of about $13B beat the ~$12.5B consensus, but the stock fell to about $473 after a +7% run into the print — elevated expectations doing the damage. Trading impact: sets the tone for semis (NVDA, MU, ALAB) and is a reminder that "beat and drop" is the pattern this season when positioning is stretched.

2. Shopify soars on Q2. SHOP is up roughly 24% premarket after beating on earnings and revenue. Disney (+3%) beat on profit with parks and streaming strength and is exiting its A+E stake; Uber trades about 4% lower on its report. Trading impact: SHOP is the day's momentum magnet; watch for continuation vs. gap-fade setups after the open.

3. SpaceX's first earnings as a public company land with a thud. SPCX fell about 7% after hours despite Starlink subscribers doubling to 12 million, 78 launches YTD and roughly $100B in cash — investors balked at rising capex. Musk also said the company will build exclusively on Nvidia's Vera Rubin architecture. Trading impact: a heavily-shorted retail favorite plus an NVDA readthrough — expect two-way volatility.

4. Hormuz deal watch. Treasury Secretary Bessent said a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait could come "today or tomorrow." Crude sold off about 3% on Tuesday and WTI is steadying near $76.50 this morning. Trading impact: headline risk cuts both ways for energy names (OXY reports tonight) and airlines.

5. Macro heats back up. July ADP hit at 8:15 AM ET and ISM Services lands at 10:00 AM ET — the appetizers for Friday's jobs report. As of Tuesday, fed funds futures priced roughly 60%+ odds of a September rate hike (CME FedWatch), so strong data is a real two-sided risk for bonds and rate-sensitive tech.

Today's market calendar (ET)

8:15 AM	ADP private payrolls (July)
9:45 AM	S&P Global Services PMI, final (July)
10:00 AM	ISM Services PMI (July) — the day's key release
10:30 AM	EIA crude oil inventories

Notable earnings

Already reported: SHOP (+~24% premarket), DIS (+~3%), UBER (−~4%), NVO, CRCL, RIOT, WULF.

After the close (options-implied expected move into Friday's expiry): SNDK ±13.1% (~$186), IONQ ±10.3% (~$4.30), XYZ (Block) ±8.2% (~$6.90), OXY ±4.0% (~$2.20). Also reporting: SOUN, RUN, SMR, JOBY, BYND, RIG.

Congress corner

Recently disclosed (filed Aug 4 — these are delayed public filings, not real-time):

• Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV, spouse) — Sell MSFT $15K–$50K (7/21), plus sales of AAPL, INTC, KO and CSCO ($1K–$15K each)
• Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-MD) — Buy MLM (Martin Marietta), three purchases 7/17–7/24, ~$17K–$80K combined
• Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-MD) — Buy LTH (Life Time), three purchases 7/27–7/31, ~$17K–$80K combined
• Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-MD) — Sell TSCO (Tractor Supply) $15K–$50K (7/27)

Social media trends

SPCX dominates retail chatter around its first public earnings, with AMD, NVDA, ALAB and SNDK heavily discussed on Stocktwits ahead of tonight's prints. AMIX was Tuesday's retail rocket — up over 400% on a patent approval before giving back ~25% after hours — and PLTR, GME and SNAP remain in focus after the Palantir-led rally.

Top Trades on Alertsify

Contract	P&L	Hold time
SPX (W) 8/4 7685C	+$218,400 (+1,826%)	~3 hours
SPX (W) 8/4 7690C	+$148,932 (+2,288%)	~3 hours
SPX (W) 8/4 7735C	+$47,190 (+1,344%)	~3 hours

Broker-verified fills from the last session. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

What matters most today

The market is at records with dealer gamma still positioned below price, so today is about whether ISM Services at 10:00 AM ET and the post-earnings tape (SHOP up ~24%, AMD down ~9%) confirm the melt-up or start the fade. Tonight's Sandisk print, with a ±13% expected move, is the week's biggest single-stock volatility event ahead of Friday's jobs report.

Close Wrap

After the bell — Wednesday, August 5, 2026.

S&P 500	7,741.68 (+0.07%)
Dow Jones	54,488.68 (+0.74%, record close)
Nasdaq Composite	26,454.00 (−0.49%)
Russell 2000	3,026.18 (−0.4%)
10-yr Treasury yield	4.62% (little changed)
WTI crude	~$75 (3rd straight decline)
Bitcoin	~$64,000 (little changed)
VIX	15.57 (−5.6%)

How the day resolved

Stocks opened higher for a fifth straight session, then spent the day giving it back. The early pop stalled after ISM Services printed 54.1 for July — still expansion, but below forecasts — and the tape faded steadily into the close. The Dow bucked the drift, climbing 403 points to a fresh record close behind Nvidia’s +4.8% gain, while the S&P 500 finished about flat and the Nasdaq snapped its four-day run. Oil fell a third straight day toward $75 as Washington signaled a Strait of Hormuz deal with Iran could land within days, and the VIX slipped under 16.

Morning-call scorecard: the morning briefing flagged that SPY and QQQ had both gapped above their largest positive-gamma strikes (SPY call walls 760/765, QQQ 710/720), leaving thin dealer positioning overhead — moves could run either way. That’s how it traded: with no wall above to pin price, SPY tagged ~777 early and drifted to 769.79 near session lows, while QQQ faded from ~726 to 717.30. Both settled above the morning’s gamma shelves, so the fade stayed orderly rather than cascading — a stall, not a break.

Under the surface, Shopify kept a roughly 20% gain after its blowout quarter, while the morning’s losers stayed heavy: AMD extended its post-earnings slide, SpaceX fell about 8%, Uber lost 6%, and Alphabet dropped around 4%.

After hours

Sandisk (±13.1% expected move) posted fiscal Q4 revenue of $8.97B, up 372% y/y, adjusted EPS of $39.25 vs. $34.45 expected, and guided next quarter to $10.3–10.8B — yet the stock slipped as much as ~8% in early after-hours trade before paring the loss, well inside the expected move, after a +10.8% run into the print. Block beat across the board ($6.62B revenue, $1.02 adj. EPS vs. $0.87) and rose about 3% after hours vs. a ±8.2% expected move. IonQ posted record revenue of $80.1M (+287% y/y) and raised full-year guidance to $280–290M; its reaction is still developing. Occidental’s release lands tonight, with the call Thursday at 1 PM ET. After-hours prices can change before tomorrow’s open.

Tomorrow at a glance

8:30 AM ET: jobless claims plus Q2 productivity and unit labor costs · 1:00 PM ET: Occidental earnings call · After close: Airbnb, DraftKings, Lyft, Cloudflare, Roku. Friday’s July jobs report (8:30 AM ET) remains the week’s main event.

Top Trades on Alertsify

Contract	P&L	Hold time
AMZN 8/5 275P	+$24,248 (+48%)	~4 hours
QQQ 8/5 720P	+$8,583 (+85%)	~25 minutes
QQQ 8/5 721P	+$7,186 (+96%)	under a minute

Broker-verified fills closed today. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

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.