Wall Street Brief (July 16): U.S. equities extended gains on Wednesday, as U.S. PPI unexpectedly declined, with platform mega-caps and China-concept stocks leading the rebound; the Nasdaq remained relatively strong, while semiconductor and memory supply chains saw sharp volatility.

Summary: U.S. equities continued to rise on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 up 0.38%, the Nasdaq up 0.62%, the Dow Jones up 0.29%, and the Russell 2000 up 0.39%. The Nasdaq remained relatively stronger, though its outperformance narrowed compared to the previous day. Markets are still in recovery mode, but the breadth of the rally remains modest. The VIX fell to 15.67, down 5.03% on the day, indicating further easing of sentiment. June U.S. PPI came in lower than expected, further pushing down the 10-year Treasury yield and the dollar, and continuing to alleviate market concerns about near-term policy tightening. On a sector level, platform mega-caps and China-concept stocks showed stronger performance, while semiconductor and memory supply chains diverged again. In broader asset classes, the 10-year Treasury yield dropped 0.87%, gold rose 0.18%, crude oil fell 0.16%, Bitcoin was flat at 0.00%, and the dollar index declined 0.41%.

I. Major Events

1. Unexpected drop in U.S. PPI supports risk asset recovery

U.S. June PPI declined 0.3% month-over-month, marking the largest monthly drop since April 2025; it rose 5.5% year-over-year, also below the prior reading. Following Tuesday’s softer-than-expected CPI data, this wholesale inflation figure further reinforces the view that 'price pressures are easing.' The 10-year Treasury yield and the dollar continued to decline, once again cooling market worries about additional policy tightening, allowing risk assets to maintain their recovery momentum.

2. BlackRock beats earnings expectations, with continued capital inflows into U.S. markets

BlackRock reported second-quarter results on July 15, with both profit and revenue exceeding expectations. Assets under management rose to $15.3 trillion, with net inflows of $868 billion over the past 12 months. As the world’s largest asset manager, this earnings report reflects not just a single company’s performance, but also signals sustained capital inflows into U.S. financial markets. Consequently, investors were more inclined to interpret Wednesday’s market rally as driven by a combination of 'easing inflation and stabilized liquidity conditions,' rather than a fragile technical bounce.

II. Major Trends

On Wednesday, the four major indices continued to rise overall, but the internal breadth did not further broaden comprehensively. The Nasdaq remained the leader, while the Dow Jones and Russell 2000 followed moderately, indicating that capital still favored growth and large-cap platform stocks, although the pace of the recovery has started to slow.

From a medium-term perspective, QQQ gained 12.73% over three months, continuing to outperform DIA's 8.91%, underscoring the persistent medium-term advantage of tech mega-caps. In the short term, SPY rose 1.21% over two weeks, while RSP declined 0.21%, suggesting that large-cap weighted stocks remained more stable than equal-weighted counterparts during this rebound. Meanwhile, QQQ dropped 1.02% and IWM fell 1.19% over the same period, indicating that both tech and small caps have yet to fully exit their short-term correction. The market currently appears to be repairing prior stress rather than re-entering a phase of broad-based expansion.

III. Market Sentiment

Market sentiment continued to improve on Wednesday. The VIX fell to 15.67, down 5.03% for the day, while the CNN Fear & Greed Index rose to 46 from the previous reading of 45. Market anxiety continues to ease, though it has not yet entered a clearly euphoric zone.

The CBOE total put/call ratio stood at 0.73, with the index options put/call at 0.99 and the equity options put/call at 0.62. Risk appetite in the equity segment continues to improve, while hedging demand in the index segment has retreated from recent highs, pointing to an overall mood closer to moderate recovery.

IV. Market Scan

1. Index ETFs

On Wednesday, there was no significant divergence among the major index ETFs, but the relative strength hierarchy remained clear. The Nasdaq continued to show relative outperformance, with the S&P 500 and small caps following modestly, while the Dow lagged slightly. This structure suggests that capital remains tilted toward growth and large-cap names, though without the concentrated, one-sided tech rebound seen the previous day.

2. Sector Performance

Communication Services (XLC) rose 1.73%, leading all sectors, while Technology (XLK) declined 1.11%, making it the weakest, and Utilities (XLU) fell 1.03%. Sector performance lacked broad-based momentum, resembling more a scenario where platform, internet, and select large-cap growth stocks continued to support the indices, while semiconductors and some high-beta tech segments began to give back gains.

At the sub-industry level, Retail (XRT) rose 1.50%, the strongest performer. On the downside, DRAM stocks plunged 6.26%, copper miners (COPX) fell 1.85%, cybersecurity (CIBR) dropped 1.73%, cloud computing (SKYY) declined 1.64%, semiconductors (SMH) fell 1.59%, and uranium miners (URA) dropped 1.56%. Tech mega-caps and the semiconductor chain did not move in sync, highlighting ongoing rotation within the sector.

3. The Magnificent Seven Tech Stocks

Among the Magnificent Seven, Apple rose 4.01%, the strongest performer, followed by Alphabet up 3.60%, Meta up 3.07%, and Microsoft up 2.78%, indicating continued investor support for platform and software mega-caps. Tesla declined 0.43%, the weakest, reflecting a lack of同步 momentum in high-beta manufacturing and discretionary consumer names. The rally in mega-cap tech was not a broad-based advance but rather focused on platform leaders with stronger advertising exposure, ecosystem advantages, and higher cash flow certainty.

4. Chinese ADRs

Chinese ADRs saw a more comprehensive recovery on the day compared to recent sessions. Alibaba led with a 4.78% gain, followed by Bilibili up 4.58%, KWEB rising 3.13%, and PDD Holdings up 2.18%, indicating notable buying interest across platforms, e-commerce, and the China Internet ETF. Tencent Music gained 0.91%—though lagging in magnitude, the broader picture shows Chinese ADRs are no longer moving on an idiosyncratic basis but exhibiting clearer sector-wide recovery.

5. Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin was flat, up 0.00%, indicating that crypto assets did not continue riding the previous day's risk-on sentiment higher. Among related stocks, CRCL rose 3.91%, showing the strongest performance; MSTR fell 0.11%, and RIOT dropped 0.45%, both notably lagging behind. Investor appetite remains for stablecoins and crypto infrastructure, but enthusiasm has clearly cooled for highly volatile and leveraged crypto plays compared to the prior day.

$S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ $SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY.US)$ $NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$ $Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ.US)$ $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ $State Street® SPDR® Dow Jones Industrial Average® ETF Trust (DIA.US)$ $Russell 2000 Index (.RUT.US)$ $iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM.US)$ $Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS.US)$ $USD (USDindex.FX)$ $U.S. 10-Year Treasury Notes Yield (US10Y.BD)$ $iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT.US)$ $XAU/USD (XAUUSD.CFD)$ $SPDR Gold ETF (GLD.US)$ $CBOE Volatility S&P 500 Index (.VIX.US)$ $CME-Bitcoin RR Futures (AUG6) (BTCmain.US)$ $iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA.US)$ $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ $Tesla (TSLA.US)$ $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ $Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$ $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ $Apple (AAPL.US)$

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