S&P 500 Hits New Record Highs Amid Robust Earnings and Trade Optimism
On July 23, 2025, the S&P 500 index achieved a new historical high, concluding the session with a 0.78% gain to close at 6,358.91 points. Futures contracts for the index saw even stronger gains, propelled by robust earnings from Alphabet. Year-to-date, the S&P 500 has surged over 8%, with a notable increase of more than 32% since its April low. Beyond strong corporate results, market optimism is also being driven by the anticipation of new trade agreements between the US and its key commercial partners. Yesterday, an agreement with Japan was announced, stipulating a 15% tariff on Japanese products. Speculation suggests a similar tariff rate may be applied to goods from the European Union.
The S&P 500's ascent was primarily driven by prominent companies such as Nvidia, which gained over 2%, solidifying its market capitalization above $4 trillion. Meta also saw strong gains of 1.2%, while Broadcom advanced 1.8%. Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly climbed nearly 3%. Significant gains were also recorded by Oracle, ExxonMobil, and Home Depot.
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Create account Try a demo Download mobile app Download mobile appAlphabet's Strong Results Fuel US500 Surge
After the market close, Alphabet, Google's parent company, released its second-quarter 2025 financial results, which significantly surpassed analyst expectations:
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Revenue: $96.4 billion (up 14% year-over-year, exceeding the forecast of $94 billion)
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Earnings Per Share (EPS): $2.31 (compared to expectations of $2.18)
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Google Cloud Segment: Revenue surged 32% year-over-year to $13.6 billion
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Search and Advertising Segments: Clearly exceeded market expectations
Alphabet's stellar performance was a primary catalyst for the post-session gains and the overall positive sentiment across the technology sector. Alphabet also announced a substantial increase in capital expenditures to $85 billion, aimed at addressing the surging demand for cloud services driven by advancements in artificial intelligence. While the high expenditure warrants scrutiny, the robust growth in cloud revenue justifies this strategic direction for the company.
Will Intel Capture Investor Attention?
Today, investor focus shifts to Intel's second-quarter 2025 earnings release. The company's previous results indicated moderate revenue and reduced profitability, though with signs of improvement in key segments such as data centers and foundry operations. Investors will particularly be scrutinizing:
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Momentum in the Data Center segment
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Progress in the foundry business (manufacturing chips for other companies)
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Profitability and growth outlook related to AI
The US500 has definitively broken out of a consolidation pattern that began on July 4, although a more significant breach occurred on July 17. It is noteworthy that the previous consolidation in June led to an approximate 4% increase, translating to a nearly 300-point move. Should this pattern repeat, the target for the US500 would be around 6600 points, which would remain consistent with the upward trend channel. Support continues to be observed at the 25-period Simple Moving Average (SMA).
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