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For the most part, market volatility was caused by escalating strikes against Iran. This has a significant impact on oil prices and equities prices. Over the last week, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) went from about $85 a barrel to about $95 a barrel. Since the start of July, the price of WTI reached a low of $75 after the memorandum of understanding was public. However, there is a chance that WTI could get pack to $100 or more per barrel if the conflict were to ramp up further.

On Thursday, the most important scheduled news release took place on Thursday when unemployment claims for the last seven days were made public. It was revealed that 187,000 claims for benefits were made over that period. This was significantly lower than the 211,000 claims expected by analysts and the 209,000 requests for benefits from the previous week.

This suggests that the economy is still strong regardless of inflation and other pressures on consumers. It may also suggest that monetary policy can remain unchanged for the time being. It is expected that the Fed will cut interest rates where they are within a range between 3.75 percent and 4 percent.

The S&P 500 was down about 99 points last week to finish at 7,411. This was a loss of 1.32 percent over the last five trading days. The index is now down 1.15 over the past month. On Wednesday, the market made its high of the week when it hit 7,524 while it made its low of the week on Thursday when it dipped to 7,383.

The Dow was down 0.8 percent this past week to close at 51,946. This was a loss of 416 points over the last five trading days. The index is up 0.28 percent over the past month. On Wednesday, the index made a high of 52,392 while it made its low of the week on Thursday of 51,561.

Finally, the Nasdaq was down 2.86 percent to close at 24,975. This was a loss of 735 points over the past week. It made a weekly high of 26,345 at the opening of trading on Monday and closed near its low of the week.

In international news, Canada announced on Monday that its inflation was down 0.4 percent over the last month. The same day, New Zealand announced that inflation was up 1.5 percent over the last quarter. On Wednesday, Great Britain announced that its annual inflation rate was 2.6 percent, which was slightly lower than expected.

Australia announced on Wednesday night that its economy added 76,000 jobs in June and that its unemployment rate was at 4.4 percent. Finally, on Thursday, the European Union announced that its key interest rate would remain unchanged at 2.4 percent.

The upcoming week will see the Fed will make its July interest rate decision on Wednesday. Japan and Great Britain will also make interest rate decisions next week. The Core PCE Price Index for June as well as advance GDP data for the second quarter of 2026 will be released on Thursday.

A significant number of news items helped to create volatility across multiple sectors last week. On Tuesday, inflation data was released while Wednesday and Thursday saw the release of price change and retail sale information during the month of June.

In June, inflation cooled by 0.4 percent compared to an expected drop of 0.1 percent. On a yearly basis, overall CPI is at 3.5 percent, which was lower than the expected 3.8 percent and lower than last month’s reading of 4.2 percent. Core CPI was flat for the month and 2.6 percent on an annualized basis. This has led to speculation that there will be no need for a rate hike in July or September as had been previously speculated.

The Price Producers Index (PPI) for June was also lower than expected as overall PPI was down by 0.3 percent compared to May. Core PPI was 0.2 percent, which was slightly lower than the projected 0.3 percent. The reduction was mostly attributed to a drop in oil and gasoline prices.

Retail sale data released on Thursday found that overall retail sales were up 0.2 percent, which was in line with expectations. Core retail sales were down 0.2 percent from June. However, overall and core retail sales for May were revised upward to reflect an increase of 1 percent from April.

Unemployment claims data also came out on Thursday and revealed that 208,000 people requested benefits over the past seven days. This was down from 216,000 during the previous seven days.

On Friday, the University of Michigan released its preliminary consumer sentiment and inflation expectation reports for July. Consumer sentiment rose to 54.4 while inflation was expected to be at 4.2 percent in 12 months.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Fed Chair Warsh testified before members of Congress. His overall message was that a single positive inflation report can’t be seen as evidence the Fed’s fight against rising prices is over. Warsh was noncommittal about rate hikes saying that he would do his job even if the president would prefer rates be lowered. He also said that task forces created to provide guidance regarding monetary policy were still in the fact-finding stages.
The S&P 500 was down 1.23 percent this week to close at 7,457. This was a loss of 92 points on the week for an index that has been relatively choppy throughout 2026. Over the last month, the index is down just over 1 percent. Over the past week, it made a high of 7,573 on Wednesday before reversing and hitting a low of 7,433 on Friday.

The Dow was down 497 points this week to close at 52,146. This was a loss of 0.94 percent over the last five trading days. Despite the loss this week, the index is still up about 0.8 percent over the previous 30 days. This week, the index opened Monday at its highest point starting the day at 52,819. The index made a low of 52,020 on Friday morning.

Finally, the Nasdaq finished the week about 2 percent lower closing at 25,520 at the end of the day Friday. The index has lost 3.51 percent over the past month as the AI trade continues to go through boom-and-bust cycles. This week, the index made a high of 26,278 on Wednesday and made a low of 25,269 on Friday.

In international news, Canada announced on Wednesday that it would maintain its key interest rate at 2.25 percent. On Thursday, Great Britain announced that GDP growth of 0.1 percent over the past month.

The first full trading week of July was highlighted by the release of the FOMC June meeting minutes. However, there was plenty of other news that helped move markets starting with the ISM Services PMI released on Monday morning.

The report came in at 54, which was slightly lower than the expected 54.2 prior to the release. It was also slightly lower than last month’s reading of 54.5. However, this does mean that the services sector is still in a period of expansion. This has been largely true since 2020, and it has both caused inflation to run higher than the Fed would like and has also helped to buoy the overall economy.

On Wednesday, the reveal of the FOMC meeting minutes from June showed a committee that was unsure of where monetary policy should go. A significant number of voting members thought that interest rates would remain roughly the same through the end of the year. However, a similar number of members also thought that rates should go higher.

The main question is whether the conflict in Iran is going to result in elevated energy prices over the months ahead. If so, there may be a need for interest rate hikes according to FOMC members. If not, Chair Warsh has indicated that the economy is in a good place and that there would be no need to increase the main interest rate.

It’s unclear if the conflict is going to end anytime soon, which means that the Strait of Hormuz may or may not be available to handle its normal traffic load. Ultimately, that will be the key to determining whether energy prices stay elevated, which would result in the need for rate hikes according to Fed logic.

Finally, on Thursday, unemployment claims data was released, and it was little changed from last week. Over the last seven days, there were 215,000 requests for benefits, 2,000 fewer than the previous reading of 217,000.

The S&P 500 finished up 63 points for the week to close at 7,575. This was a gain of about 0.85 percent over the past five days for an index that has appreciated 1.8 percent over the past month. For the week, the market made a low of 7,437 on Wednesday before reversing and closing near its weekly high on Friday.

The Dow was down 160 points this week to close at 52,637. That is a loss of about 0.3 percent over the last five trading days, but the index is still up more than 3 percent over the past month. This week, the market made a high of 53,237 on Monday and a low of 52,087 on Wednesday.

Finally, the Nasdaq gained more than 230 points to finish the week at 26,281. The tech-heavy index was up 0.9 percent this week and is up a little more than 1 percent over the last month. This week, it made a low of 25,537 on Wednesday morning before reversing and finishing near the weekly high.

In international news, New Zealand announced on Tuesday that it would hike its key interest rate by 25 basis points from 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent. Canada announced on Friday that its economy added more than 18,000 jobs this month and that its unemployment rate dipped to 6.5 percent.

The upcoming week is sure to be another interesting one for investors. Inflation data will be released on Tuesday morning while Fed Chair Warsh is expected to testify later that same day. The Price Producer Index (PPI) comes out on Wednesday while retail sale data will come out on Thursday. Friday sees the release of the University of Michigan’s inflation and consumer sentiment reports.