Weekly Market Performance — August 7, 2026

LPL Research provides its Weekly Market Performance for the week of August 3, 2026. Stocks advanced to start August as strong earnings, mostly resilient economic data, and easing concerns around imminent rate hikes bolstered sentiment. Markets analyzed a few positive factors this week ahead of Friday’s much anticipated payrolls report. European markets also moved higher on strong earnings and lower energy prices, while Asian markets ended mixed. In fixed income, bonds rose as yields declined amid the same drivers, while commodities traded mixed, with oil prices pressured my diplomatic optimism in the Middle East while gold delivered a solid rebound.

Stock Index Performance

S&P 500 Index Sectors

Fixed Income and Commodities

Source: LPL Research, Bloomberg 8/7/26 @ 3:27 p.m. ET
Disclosures: Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested in directly.

U.S. and International Equities

U.S. Equities: Major averages kicked off the new month on a positive note, despite markets lacking a major directional driver for most of the week. Wall Street chatter broadly centered around strong second quarter earnings, cleaner positioning after the recent unwind of leverage and momentum trades, and economic resilience. On the earnings front, more high-profile reports from the tech sector highlighted the week. Palantir Technologies (PLTR) shares rallied after delivering a beat and raise, while shares of Sandisk (SDNK) edged higher — trimming post-earnings losses after strong results failed to meet lofty expectations.

Optimism around a deal between Iran and Oman to revitalize oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz was also among key talking points, although markets continued to broadly ignore noisy headlines while awaiting more concrete progress. Meanwhile, arguably the biggest event of the week was Friday’s payrolls report. Bad news was good news again regarding payrolls as stocks extended week-to-date gains on easing immediate-term rate hike worries after Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicated American companies cut 23,000 jobs last month. The report aided appetite in riskier pockets of the stock market, helping the S&P 500 track its best week since April and set a fresh record high along the way.

International Equities: European stocks tied off a fourth consecutive advance, closing near all-time highs. Stronger-than-expected local earnings were the dominant theme of the week while falling crude prices were also flagged as a tailwind for the energy sensitive region. Technology shares led the STOXX 600 Index on a strong batch of revenue beats, while metals and miner names were also in focus, supported by the recent rally in copper prices alongside strong earnings. Geographically, U.K. shares underperformed amid headlines around a potential tax raid on the banking sector ahead of the autumn budget, fiscal trade-offs facing the government, and reports warning of elevated recession risk.

Asia-Pacific equities logged a third straight week of gains. Mainland China outperformed on the back of a rally in optical names in response to NVIDIA (NVDA) unveiling plans to mass produce co-packaged optics, while ongoing low-cost artificial intelligence (AI) optimism was also flagged as supportive. Japan shrugged off early week losses driven by extended yen strength following last week’s joint intervention to gain ground on positive earnings from chip-related companies and easing crude prices. Strong earnings takeaways spilled over into Taiwan which led weekly gains, while South Korea lagged despite intra-week strength on DRAM price increases and reports suggesting SK Hynix may announce fresh share buybacks. 

Fixed Income, Currency, and Commodity Markets

Fixed Income: Core bonds, as measured by the Bloomberg Aggregate Index (Agg), traded higher this week, driven by a fairly broad-based rally in Treasuries. Signs of diplomatic progress regarding oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz cooled oil prices and pushed yields lower (prices higher), while Friday’s softer-than-expected jobs report sparked a drop in rates as rate-hike expectations waned. 

Meanwhile, attention also landed on the quarterly refunding announcement where the Treasury lays out its borrowing needs for the upcoming quarter. The announcement arrived mostly in line with market expectations, however, “in line” doesn’t necessarily mean “best course of action,” in our view. Treasury's decision to leave auction sizes unchanged effectively kicks the coupon-laden can down the road as fixed income markets grapple with shifting Fed expectations. The bigger tell is where the extra borrowing went. Treasury now expects to borrow $739 billion in privately held net marketable debt this quarter, $68 billion more than the May estimate, assuming a $950 billion end-of-September cash balance. Rather than test long-end demand, Treasury pushed the incremental need into bills and left notes and bonds alone. That is probably the right call short term, but it is also a decision to defer, not solve the Treasury issuance conundrum. Bill supply is being absorbed because money fund balances are deep, but the additional coupon needs do not disappear; it just gets scheduled for later.

Commodities and Currencies: The broader commodity complex edged lower this week after briefly touching the week-to-date flatline late Friday morning. The complex continued to be driven by energy prices, and this week’s optimism around de-escalation in the Persian Gulf and a potential agreement to restore shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz weighed on Brent crude futures. However, reports that Iranian naval forces carried out strikes Friday sparked a reversal in prices, but industry reports of additional rigs added this week signaled some modest supply-side expansion and capped gains. Elsewhere, gold prices rallied over the last five days and climbed back into positive year-to-date territory. Easing Treasury yields and rate hike expectations were supportive of the yellow metal, while clearing data indicated that Chinese institutional investors continued to increase positions in gold-backed assets due to recent tech stock volatility and strength in the physical market underpinned by central banks. In currencies, the yen steadied and the U.S. dollar weakened following the softer-than-expected payrolls report.

Economic Weekly Roundup

Jobs data was the key theme of macro data this week, all leading up to the latest payrolls release Friday morning from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In short, the result was complicated and may make things complicated for the Fed. July payrolls shrank by 23,000 but the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% from 4.2% the previous month. Looking past the headline, total private payrolls grew by 30,000 in July, slightly below the break-even rate. The topline decline was mostly due to a decline in local government education payrolls (-49,600). Ironically, federal and state payrolls grew a net 4,000. Healthcare jobs remain on an upward trend, gaining 22,000, but at a slightly slower pace than the 12-month average gain of 36,000. Several categories, such as construction, manufacturing, and oil & gas extraction, showed little change over the month. If we look at weekly employment data, we see minimal stress in the labor market despite the negative payroll print for July.

Bottom Line: The labor market is experiencing an orderly slowdown, and stress indicators remain historically low. The decline in the unemployment rate will complicate the Fed’s decision process because the economy appears to be at full employment. However, the broad slowdown in hiring will add support for those arguing for keeping rates unchanged at next month’s Fed meeting.

The Week Ahead

The following economic data is slated for the week ahead: 

• Monday: No economic releases scheduled
• Tuesday: NFIB Small Business Optimism (Jul), ADP Weekly Employment Change (Jul 25), Existing Home Sales (Jul)
• Wednesday: MBA Mortgage Applications (Aug 7), Headline and Core CPI (Jul), Real Average Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Jul), Federal Budget Balance (Jul)
• Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims (Aug 8), Continuing Claims (Aug 1), Headline and Core PPI (Jul)
• Friday: Retail Sales (Jul), University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Report (August preliminary), Business Inventories (Jun)