Markets News, July 9, 2026: Stocks End Higher, Powered by Chip Shares; Oil Pulls Back as Investors Downplay Fighting Between US, Iran
Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Major indexes finished higher, aided by chip and memory stocks, as investors monitored the latest military attacks between the U.S. and Iran.
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite, benchmark S&P 500, and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Thursday up 1.3%, 0.8%, and 0.3%, respectively. Tech’s strength could be seen in ETF moves: The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) surged 3.5%, while the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) finished up 3.7%. The S&P 500 Information Technology Sector jumped 1.7% to pace the 11 industries tracked by the index.
Micron Technology (MU), Marvell Technology (MRVL), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Sandisk (SNDK), and ARM Holdings (ARM) finished up between roughly 5% and 9%. The Magnificent Seven mega-cap tech stocks ended mostly higher, with the biggest move in either direction a 4.7% rise in shares of Meta Platforms (META).
Yesterday, major stock indexes closed mostly lower and oil prices jumped after President Donald Trump said he thought the U.S.’s ceasefire with Iran was “over” and threatened further strikes. The U.S. indeed attacked Iran, but oil prices declined Thursday. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark, pulled back 2.3% to $71.85 per barrel at 4 p.m. ET, while global benchmark Brent crude futures were down 2.5% to $76.10.
AstraZeneca (AZN) shares fell almost 6% after a heart-disease drug failed to meet goals; PepsiCo (PEP) shares declined more than 3% after the company posted mixed quarterly results; and Levi Strauss (LEVI) stock slipped 2% after its earnings report.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of consumer loans including mortgages, was at 4.55%, down from Wednesday’s close below 4.58%. Gold futures were up 1.2% to $4,130 an ounce.
Bitcoin was around $63,200, up from overnight lows of roughly $61,700. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, was down fractionally at 100.96.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 08:09 PM GMT
Why Did Costco Stock Fall Today? Because It Had ‘Little Room for Error’
Costco fell victim to its own excellence.
The warehouse club on Wednesday evening said net sales grew 10.6% in June, its slowest pace since February. That was its first month-over-month deceleration in 2026: Sales growth accelerated every other month this year, rising from about 9% in January to more than 14% in May. Comparable sales grew 8.8%, fast for a national retailer with $250 billion in annual sales, but a slowdown from 12.5% in May.
Costco (COST) stock closed down more than 4%, deepening a two-month slump that has shares trading about 17% below the record high they set in mid-May.
Credit: M. Suhail / Getty Images
Even so, shares are up about 6% since the start of the year, thanks in part to a strong start. The S&P Consumer Staples Sector Index fell nearly 10% during the first weeks of the war in Iran as investors debated the impact soaring oil and gas prices would have on consumer spending. But Costco stock, trading near an all-time high when the war began, declined less than 5%, buoyed by the retailer’s membership model, low prices, and the boost to its gas station sales from soaring fuel prices.
Read the full article here.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 07:51 PM GMT
Why the Fed is ‘Genuinely Conflicted’ on Interest Rates
The Federal Reserve agrees on the game plan for interest rates. The only problem is the central bank has little clue what the second half of the year will bring.
That’s a key takeaway for analysts as they get a closer view of the Federal Open Market Committee under its new chair, Kevin Warsh.
Credit: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
In his first meeting, almost all of the FOMC’s 19 members agreed they should raise interest rates if prices keep rising. But they also agreed they could keep rates flat or even cut them again eventually if inflation cools, according to minutes of their mid-June meeting released on Wednesday.
Read the full article here.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 07:51 PM GMT
Gas Prices Just Jumped After Weeks of Relief. Where They Stand in Every State
Gas prices surged for months after the Iran conflict began, then spent weeks drifting lower. Now, however, that relief has stalled.
The national average for regular gasoline rose to $3.85 a gallon today, up six cents over the last two days, according to AAA. The jump came after weeks of declines from a conflict-era peak of $4.56, pushing the average down to $3.79 on July 7—its lowest level since mid-March.
The reversal comes as oil prices have climbed again, raising the risk that some of the recent gas-price relief could fade. Even with the latest increase, today’s average is down more than 70 cents from its conflict-era peak, but still more than 80 cents above the pre-conflict average.
Read the full article here.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 06:33 PM GMT
If the Market Isn’t ‘Pricing In Promise’ for AI Stocks Anymore—What’s Next for Tech?
AI stocks have been giving investors whiplash.
The PHLX Semiconductor Index of chip stocks, or SOX, almost doubled in the first half of the year, then flinched. It’s up more than 4% today, erasing much of its double-digit July losses over the past five days. The 22 stocks in the S&P 500 that gained 100%-plus over the first six months of 2026—most are in the tech sector—were recently down an average of 16% in July, per Bespoke Investment Group. (Think Sandisk (SNDK), Micron (MU), Intel (INTC), and Western Digital (WDC).)
Between the continued excitement around chipmakers—as seen in the enthusiasm regarding SK Hynix’s imminent U.S. listing—and the sudden reversal in the tech sector’s fortunes earlier this week, the AI trade is flashing mixed signals.
Credit: Photographer: SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Some investment experts see this as a new phase that might signal an end to the everything-chip rally—but not a death knell for the theme.
Read the full article here.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 05:16 PM GMT
Air Travel Is Getting More Confusing, Even at the Front of the Plane
Getting better seats on the plane is getting cheaper—and more complicated.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) introduced new “basic” tiers for its premium tickets Wednesday, following last year’s revamp of its main cabin. Delta First and Delta Premium Select will each get a “basic” tier, while the lowest level of the Delta One tier will become “Basic Business.” It’s the latest sign of airlines and hotels monetizing previously free upgrades or perks, and charging separately for what they once bundled together.
Delta said the basic tier costs less but drops some features: no seat selection before check-in, a smaller checked-bag allowance, and fewer mile rewards. The Delta First options went on sale Wednesday. Premium Select Basic and Basic Business can be booked for domestic and some international flights taking off from September on.
Credit: Patrick van Katwijk / Getty Images
The new ticket options come as Delta and other airlines have increasingly pushed to upgrade their “premium” offerings in recent years, as Americans have proved willing to spend big on travel and experiences even as prices rise elsewhere in the economy.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 04:42 PM GMT
MARA Holdings Stock Soars on Texas Land Acquisition to Expand Power Capacity
Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) plans to greatly expand its power capacity. Investors cheered the news.
MARA shares soared 12% in early afternoon trading after the firm said it would acquire more than 1,200 acres of land from HIF USA in Matagorda County, Texas.
The site, roughly 90 miles southwest of Houston, is seen more than doubling MARA’s potential power capacity to about 4.8 gigawatts, it said.
“This transaction advances our strategy of securing strategically located infrastructure assets capable of supporting high-performance compute and bitcoin workloads,” MARA CEO Fred Thiel said. “As demand for digital infrastructure continues to grow, we believe sites with access to reliable, scalable power will become increasingly valuable.”
MARA shares have increased 50% in value since the start of the year.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 03:39 PM GMT
Communication Services, Consumer Staples, Energy Sectors Underperforming Today
The S&P 500 is comfortably in the green today, but there are a few sectors notably in the red.
The S&P 500 Communication Services, Consumer Staples, and Energy Sectors are the three worst performers of the 11 industries tracked by the benchmark index, down 1.4%, 1.4%, and 1.1%, respectively.
Communication Services component Paramount Skydance (PSKY) is the worst-performing individual stock in the S&P 500, down 6%.
The S&P 500 is up roughly 0.6% overall.
Credit: Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
JULY 9, 2026 AT 03:02 PM GMT
Cerebras Systems Stock Surges on European Expansion
Shares of Cerebras Systems (CBRS) jumped roughly 7% in morning trading after the company touted an expansion of its European AI infrastructure.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Cerebras said it its first European data center capacity will come online by the end of the year, “with rapid build-out across France and the Nordics.”
The firm said it intends to expand its total capacity to 200 megawatts by the end of next year, “with a portion of that capacity expected to support OpenAI workloads as part of the companies’ existing partnership.”
Despite today’s gains, Cerebras shares are down 38% since the firm’s IPO in May.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 01:34 PM GMT
AstraZeneca Stock Slumps on Heart Drug Trial Data
Shares of AstraZeneca (AZN) are tumbling Thursday after the pharmaceutical company said that Wainua, a drug in development to treat a certain kind of heart disease, failed to meet its targets in its Phase 3 clinical trial.
The company said this morning that when adding the drug to the current treatment plan for the disease, it “did not provide a statistically significant benefit on the composite outcome of [cardiovascular] mortality and recurrent CV events.”
The company said the full results of the trial will be shared in August.
Shares were down 8% at the opening bell, with the move set to drag them back to negative territory for the year.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 12:55 PM GMT
SK Hynix’s US Share Offering Reportedly Seeing Massive Demand
Investors are looking to get in early on another AI stock that’s expected to start trading in the U.S. soon.
SK Hynix, the South Korean memory chip giant, is offering about 178 million American depositary receipts, with pricing expected later today and the U.S. listing set for Friday.
Bloomberg reported last night that the offering is at least seven times oversubscribed as institutional investors look to capitalize on the debut.
The ADRs will be equal to one-tenth of a full share, which closed Thursday up 5% to about 2.19 million Korean won ($1,445) in Korean Stock Exchange trading.
Soaring AI demand for memory components has sent SK Hynix and other industry heavyweights such as Micron (MU) to record highs this year, though the stocks have pulled back recently.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 12:36 PM GMT
PepsiCo Q2 Results Top Wall Street Estimates
The second-quarter earnings season is starting this week with results from several household names, including PepsiCo (PEP), which posted its results this morning.
The snack food and beverage giant said it earned an adjusted $2.20 per share as revenue rose 6% from the year-ago period to $24.18 billion in revenue. The top- and bottom-line numbers narrowly topped the analyst consensus compiled by Visible Alpha.
PepsiCo’s growth was again driven largely by its international business in the quarter, with each of the non-U.S. segments posting double digit sales growth. North American beverages revenue grew by 7%, but snack foods fell 2%.
Credit: Sergio Flores / Bloomberg via Getty Images
PepsiCo shares, which are flat so far in 2026, were down 2% in recent premarket trading.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 11:57 AM GMT
An Abandoned Crypto SPAC Deal Highlights the Decline of Digital Asset Treasuries
Digital asset treasury companies are so last summer.
Cantor Equity Partners I (CEPO), a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, was set to merge with BSTR Holdings, to create what was supposed to be among the largest DATCOs—as bitcoin treasury companies are known—listed on major U.S. exchanges. That deal, announced last July, has been scrapped as of Wednesday as both parties renegotiate deal terms “intended to better reflect current market conditions,” according to a filing.
Those conditions can be seen in the 75% decline over the past year in the share price of Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, which now plans to sell as much as $1.25 billion worth of the cryptocurrency. They can also be seen in other DATCOs, including Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) and Eightco (ORBS), whose stock prices have also plummeted. The term “rekt,” crypto slang for total financial devastation, comes to mind, which could also apply to crypto markets at large.
Credit: Photographer: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Though Fundstrat’s Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion continues to buy up ether, and its holdings are nearing 5% of the total coin supply—Lee’s target goal—about one year after its pledge to buy up the crypto, the stock is trading a fraction of what it was during DATCO summer of 2025 when shares, at peaks, were as high as $161. It recently traded at around $15.
Read the full article here.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 11:24 AM GMT
Trump-Promoted $3.47 ‘Freedom Fuel’ Was Too Good to Last
At a gas station on Route 73 in Marlton, New Jersey Wednesday afternoon, Brian Brown was getting an unbelievable deal: he was filling up his car’s gas tank for just $3.47 a gallon, a steal compared to $3.99 at the nearby Wawa.
Brown was part of a steady stream of customers visiting the newly launched Freedom Fuel station, one of 25 in the greater Philadelphia area. These stations were selling gasoline at well below the prices of nearby stations. The station, which had been plain blue with no brand the month before, had been given a patriotic makeover and was now covered in star-spangled signs.
“Usually I go to BJ’s, but I was like, well, heck, let me give this a try,” Brown said. “And sure enough, I’m sending a text to my friend right now, I go, ‘Look it, $3.47.'”
Credit: Diccon Hyatt / Investopedia
The bargain price wasn’t too good to be true, but it was too good to last. Immediately after Brown drove away, the station’s digital sign changed to $3.57. The station attendant said the original price had just been a promotional offer.
Read the full article here.
JULY 9, 2026 AT 10:52 AM GMT
Futures Tick Higher as Oil Prices Little Changed Despite Fresh Fighting Between US, Iran
Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked 0.1% lower.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%.
Nasdaq 100 futures pointed up 0.6%.
Read the original article on Investopedia