Friday, July 31, Regular-Session Close
Indices split: Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow Jones rose, Russell 2000 fell.
Indices, Close to CloseScale ±1.0%
Index and stock percentages are close to close, from daily trade bars (Alpaca SIP), the same calculation as the Day's Poster. 10-year yield from the U.S. Treasury, VIX from Cboe, USD/TRY from the CBRT bulletin. A measure whose data is not from that session is not shown. A percentage in the brief text may come from the quote at the time of writing (including after-hours); the ledger shows the regular-session close.
Today is Saturday, August 1, 2026 — U.S. markets are closed for the weekend. There's no trading until the new week begins; attention is fully on next week, especially Friday's jobs report. Markets reopen Monday, August 3 at 9:30 AM ET (4:30 PM Turkey time).
Friday's close painted a mixed but mostly positive picture across the four major benchmarks:
01 ():
02Nasdaq 100 (QQQ): $686.13, up 0.37%.
03Dow Jones (DIA): $524.26, up 0.55%.
04Russell 2000 (IWM): $290.80, down 0.59%, diverging from the large-cap gauges.
While large-cap indices closed the week higher, small-cap stocks represented by the Russell 2000 lagged behind, a notable divergence.
The latest data show inflation continuing to ease: June's annual CPI came in at 3.46%, down from the prior 4.17%, while core CPI slipped to 2.57% from 2.82%. Core PCE eased to an annual 3.29% from 3.42% previously. On the labor front, June nonfarm payrolls added just 57,000 jobs, well below the prior month's 129,000, while the unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 4.2% from 4.3%. The Fed's policy rate remains steady at 3.63%. The next CPI release is due August 12, and the next jobs report lands August 7.
The week's most critical data point arrives Friday:
01Friday, Aug 7, 8:30 AM ET (3:30 PM Turkey time): Nonfarm payrolls — July data (high importance)
02Friday, Aug 7, 8:30 AM ET (3:30 PM Turkey time): Unemployment rate — July data (high importance)
After June's marked slowdown in job growth, July's report will offer key clues on how fast the labor market is cooling — and could directly shape expectations for the Fed's rate path.