Stocks closed lower today as oil prices shot up.

Crude oil jumped about 5%-7% depending on the grade with Brent Crude topping $100 yesterday.

After hitting the conflict high of $119.27 at the end of March, it proceeded to fall by -41.2% over the next 3 months ($70.14 on 7/2). But since then, it has shot back up to $100.55 for a 43.4% increase in a matter of weeks.

In other news, President Trump announced new tariffs (10%-12%) on 60 countries. Those replace the 10% global tariffs that expire on Friday at 12:01 AM. While some are not new in that the levels remain the same, some are. You'll recall after the Supreme Court struck down the original tariffs, the Administration was able to impose other tariffs using different statutes. Some of those were temporary, hence the expiration date. Others are more permanent (or longer-lasting), and those are the ones being applied now.

This comes on the heels of the announced 50% tariffs the U.S. will impose on Canada as a means of reciprocation for Canada discriminating against American goods, in particular autos, alcohol and dairy products.

The White House is also adding a 25% tariff on most U.S. imports from Brazil due to their repeated unfair trade practices.

The market was also shaken by big drops in Google and Tesla yesterday. Google actually had a stellar quarter with EPS growth up 294% and sales up 26.8%. But soaring CapEx has some worried that the return might not justify the expense. Tesla also reported higher CapEx. Sales were up 25.5%, but EPS was down -17.5% as operating margins fell from 4.1% last year to 1.4%. Both Alphabet and Tesla were down: -7.13% and -14.52% respectively.

Ater the close yesterday, we heard from Intel, and they posted a positive EPS surprise of 100%, and a positive sales surprise of 11.89%. That translated to a quarterly sales growth rate of 25.4% vs. this time last year. And EPS jumped from -10 cents a year ago to 42 cents last quarter. They guided both revenue and EPS higher with midpoint revs up 7.94% above the consensus, and earnings up 40.7% above the consensus. Full year 2026 CapEx was raised as well, but 'only' by $2 billion or 11.1% above previous estimates. They were off -2.33% in the regular session, and up roughly 3% in after-hours trade.

Lockheed Martin yesterday picked a tough day to report. But they were one the day's bigger winners. Before the open, they posted a positive EPS surprise of 9.97%, and a positive sales surprise of 3.26%. That equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 8.9%, and a sales growth of 10.5%. Their backlog increased to $230.42 billion vs. $193.62 (+19%) at the beginning of the year. And they raised top and bottom line guidance with full-year sales up 1.69% above views, and EPS up 1.10% above views. They soared 10.54% yesterday.

Today we'll get another 59 companies in queue to report.

Next week heats up even more with as many as 1,012 companies on deck, including four more Magnificent 7 stocks: Microsoft and Meta on Wednesday, 7/29, and Apple and Amazon on Thursday, 7/30.

On the economic report front yesterday, Weekly Jobless Claims fell -22,000 to 187,000 vs. estimates for 214,000.

Today we'll get the PMI Composite report and New Home Sales.

And of course, everyone will be watching developments in the Middle East, and see if the markets can stabilize.

See you tomorrow,