LIVEUpdated 50 mins ago
Stock market today: Nasdaq drops over 2%, Dow and S&P 500 tumble as Big Tech gets crushed, oil prices surge
Grace O’Donnell and Jake Conley
Updated Thu, July 23, 2026 at 8:40 PM GMT+5:30
2 min read
US stocks were hammered on Thursday as the latest AI spending outlooks from Alphabet (GOOG) and Tesla (TSLA) spooked investors and oil prices surged above $100 in the wake of expanded attacks in the Middle East
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) suffered the worst of the losses, tumbling 2.6% to break below 25,000 for the first time since May
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) dropped 1.1%, and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell by 1.4%, building on a stock retreat on Wednesday amid a flurry of earnings reports
(^DJI)
Go deeper with AlphaSpace
51,704.90-513.68(-0.98%)
As of 11:59:57 AM EDT. Market Open.
^DJI^GSPC^IXIC
Big Tech stocks sold off, led by declines in Alphabet and Tesla shares after the two “Magnificent Seven” heavyweights reported results after Wednesday’s market close
Alphabet posted a strong quarter fundamentally, but the Google parent’s raised capex outlook comes as investors scrutinize AI’s return on investment. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also said 2026 would be a “massive capex year” for the company, highlighting a focus on Optimus robots, robotaxis, and data centers
The latest escalation in the Middle East, meanwhile, shows no signs of relenting, and oil prices continued to climb on Thursday. Brent crude (BZ=F) oil futures, the international benchmark, crossed the key $100 level before pulling back. West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F), the US benchmark, also rose after Iran-backed Houthis said they had attacked tankers in the Red Sea
As the US-Iran war has widened, rising oil prices spurred a sell-off in bonds, sending the 10-year (^TNX) to its highest level in a year and a half amid renewed inflation concerns. The latest pressure from oil has pushed back against easing bets that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates this year
On the economic data front, initial jobless claims unexpectedly dropped to their lowest level since 1969. Claims fell to 187,000 for the week, against expectations of 210,000 first-time claims. In the corporate world, a raft of earnings awaits investors, including from Intel (INTC), T-Mobile US (TMUS), Lockheed Martin (LMT), and others
