Market Wrap · July 24, 2026
Nebius and CoreWeave Fall Double Digits as the AI-Infrastructure Selloff Deepens — Intel's Earnings Beat Gets Sold Too
The index tape looked quiet on Friday, July 24: the S&P 500 (SPY) edged up 0.10% to $738.93 and the Dow (DIA) rose 0.48% to $518.76, while the Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) slipped 1.12% to $684.23 and the semiconductor-tracking SMH fell 3.27%. The calm headline number masked a second straight session of sharp, name-specific dispersion inside the AI-infrastructure and memory-chip complex.
The clearest story was capex-versus-revenue skepticism in "neocloud" providers. CoreWeave fell 11.37% to $71.88 despite reporting 112% year-over-year revenue growth and a $99.4 billion contracted backlog; the sell-off, per The Motley Fool, reflected concern over the company's 2026 capex plan of $31–35 billion against just $6.2 billion in trailing revenue, debt that has grown to $24.9 billion, and Q2 interest expense expected at $650–730 million — plus signs that customer Meta is building its own competing cloud capacity. Nebius fell alongside it, down 15.02% to $187.77, on the same underlying concern about neocloud spending and profitability.
Memory names sold off on a separate but related valuation debate. SanDisk fell 10.79% to $1,436.56 as Wall Street split sharply on where its AI-driven NAND boom goes next: Susquehanna's $3,050 price target sits $1,430 above Wells Fargo's $1,620, with the company's Q4 report due in early August seen as the tiebreaker (The Motley Fool). Micron fell 6.99% to $920.95 despite what The Motley Fool called bullish sector news that day — Citigroup calling the semiconductor sell-off a buying opportunity on AI and data-center demand, and Intel's own beat — with no company-specific negative catalyst found; the move looks like sentiment and profit-taking rather than a change in fundamentals. Arm fell 8.14% to $260.01 in the same complex.
Intel added a third pattern: a genuine beat that got sold anyway. Q2 2026 revenue rose 25% year-over-year to $16.1 billion — its fastest growth in more than 15 years — with pro forma EPS of $0.42, roughly double the $0.21 estimate. But a GAAP loss of $2.16 per share and a stretched 60x forward-earnings multiple overtook an initial 12% after-hours pop; by Friday's close the stock had given back the gain and fallen 7.89% to $92.32 (The Motley Fool; The Motley Fool).
Elsewhere on the tape
ServiceNow was the session's standout gainer, up 7.44% to $98.78, continuing a rebound built on Q2 revenue of roughly $4 billion, up 24% year-over-year, and a raised full-year guide (The Motley Fool). American Airlines rose 6.79% to $14.48 as crude oil (USO) pulled back 2.01%, giving back part of Thursday's blockade-driven spike.