{"id":65301,"date":"2026-07-23T16:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T20:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/tech-slump-and-geopolitical-tensions-drag-markets-lower-as-intel-shines\/65301\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T16:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T20:38:13","slug":"tech-slump-and-geopolitical-tensions-drag-markets-lower-as-intel-shines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/tech-slump-and-geopolitical-tensions-drag-markets-lower-as-intel-shines\/65301\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Slump and Geopolitical Tensions Drag Markets Lower as Intel Shines"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Global markets tumbled<\/strong> as the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a><\/strong> fell <strong>1.22%<\/strong> and the <strong>Nasdaq Composite<\/strong> dropped <strong>2.12%<\/strong>, fueled by <strong>U.S.-Iran escalations<\/strong> and disappointing tech earnings from <strong>Alphabet<\/strong> and <strong>Tesla<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Intel (<a href=\"\/stock\/INTC\">INTC<\/a>)<\/strong> defied the broader tech rout, posting a massive <strong>Q2 EPS beat of $0.42<\/strong> (vs. $0.21 expected) and raising its <strong>2026 capital expenditure<\/strong> plan to <strong>$20 billion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Energy prices surged<\/strong> with <strong>Brent crude<\/strong> climbing above <strong>$100 per barrel<\/strong>, while <strong>Treasury yields<\/strong> hit year-highs amid rising geopolitical instability.<\/li>\n<li><strong>SAP SE (<a href=\"\/stock\/SAP\">SAP<\/a>)<\/strong> reported strong <strong>Q2 cloud revenue<\/strong> growth of <strong>26%<\/strong> at constant currency, maintaining its full-year outlook despite the volatile macroeconomic backdrop.<\/li>\n<li><strong>GE HealthCare (<a href=\"\/stock\/GEHC\">GEHC<\/a>)<\/strong> announced a leadership shakeup as <strong>CFO James Saccaro<\/strong> prepares to step down, even as the company posted a preliminary revenue beat of <strong>$5.30 billion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Market Rout Driven by Geopolitics and Tech Doubts<\/h2>\n<p>Wall Street faced a sea of red on Thursday as a combination of geopolitical friction and a cooling AI trade sent major indices lower. The <strong>Nasdaq Composite<\/strong> led the decline, shedding <strong>544.72 points<\/strong> to finish at <strong>25,146.18<\/strong>, while the <strong>S&amp;P 500<\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/dowjones\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average<\/strong> fell <strong>1.22%<\/strong> and <strong>1.00%<\/strong> respectively. <em>Investor sentiment was rattled by escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran<\/em>, which pushed <strong>Brent crude<\/strong> prices past the <strong>$100<\/strong> threshold and sent <strong>U.S. Treasury yields<\/strong> to their highest levels of the year.<\/p>\n<p>The &quot;Magnificent Seven&quot; faced significant pressure as doubts regarding the immediate payoff of AI spending began to surface. <strong>Alphabet (<a href=\"\/stock\/GOOGL\">GOOGL<\/a>)<\/strong> shares slid <strong>6.9%<\/strong>, while <strong>Tesla (<a href=\"\/stock\/TSLA\">TSLA<\/a>)<\/strong> plummeted <strong>15%<\/strong> following recent earnings data. Despite the broad tech sell-off, defense contractors like <strong>Lockheed Martin (<a href=\"\/stock\/LMT\">LMT<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>RTX (<a href=\"\/stock\/RTX\">RTX<\/a>)<\/strong> bucked the trend, raising their sales forecasts in response to the heightened global security environment.<\/p>\n<h2>Intel Delivers Surprise Beat Amid Foundry Push<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Intel (<a href=\"\/stock\/INTC\">INTC<\/a>)<\/strong> provided a rare bright spot for the semiconductor sector, reporting <strong>Q2 revenue of $16.13 billion<\/strong>, significantly higher than the <strong>$14.43 billion<\/strong> analysts anticipated. The company\u2019s <strong>Data Center &amp; AI<\/strong> segment brought in <strong>$6.26 billion<\/strong>, while its burgeoning <strong>Intel Foundry<\/strong> business contributed <strong>$5.77 billion<\/strong>. <em>Management signaled long-term confidence<\/em> by increasing its <strong>2026 capital expenditure<\/strong> target to <strong>$20 billion<\/strong>, up from the previous <strong>$18 billion<\/strong> estimate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CFO David Zinsner<\/strong> noted in an interview that the company has secured long-term chip supply deals running three to five years. For the upcoming third quarter, <strong>Intel<\/strong> expects adjusted <strong>EPS of $0.38<\/strong> on revenue between <strong>$15.8 billion and $16.8 billion<\/strong>, both figures comfortably ahead of consensus estimates. This optimistic outlook provided a much-needed tailwind for the broader chip sector, even as <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/AMD\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"16\" title=\"stock: AMD\">AMD<\/a> (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMD\">AMD<\/a>)<\/strong> launched new AI-specific hardware to compete for market share.<\/p>\n<h2>Corporate Earnings and Leadership Transitions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>SAP SE (<a href=\"\/stock\/SAP\">SAP<\/a>)<\/strong> showcased the resilience of enterprise software, posting <strong>Q2 cloud revenue of \u20ac6.28 billion<\/strong>. The company\u2019s <strong>cloud backlog<\/strong> grew by <strong>26%<\/strong>, surpassing the <strong>23.8%<\/strong> growth expected by analysts. <strong>SAP<\/strong> reaffirmed its full-year guidance, targeting non-IFRS operating profit between <strong>\u20ac11.8 billion and \u20ac12.2 billion<\/strong>, suggesting that <em>enterprise digital transformation remains a priority for global firms<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In the healthcare sector, <strong>GE HealthCare (<a href=\"\/stock\/GEHC\">GEHC<\/a>)<\/strong> released preliminary <strong>Q2 revenue of $5.30 billion<\/strong>, slightly edging out the <strong>$5.26 billion<\/strong> estimate. However, the news was overshadowed by the announcement that <strong>CFO James Saccaro<\/strong> will be stepping down. Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">gold<\/a> mining giant <strong>Newmont (<a href=\"\/stock\/NEM\">NEM<\/a>)<\/strong> reported an <strong>adjusted EPS of $2.10<\/strong>, beating the <strong>$1.99<\/strong> estimate, but warned of rising unit costs in <strong>Q3<\/strong> due to higher sustaining capital spend and energy price pressures.<\/p>\n<h2>Regulatory and Macroeconomic Updates<\/h2>\n<p>On the legislative front, <strong>Senate Majority Leader Thune<\/strong> announced that the Senate aims to vote on a new <strong>Russia sanctions bill<\/strong> next week, further highlighting the geopolitical risks weighing on markets. Simultaneously, the <strong>U.S. Treasury<\/strong> released its latest currency report, refraining from labeling any nation a currency manipulator but specifically criticizing <strong>China<\/strong> for a lack of transparency in its foreign exchange interventions.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong> released its weekly balance sheet update, a key indicator for traders monitoring the central bank&#39;s ongoing quantitative tightening efforts. As the <strong>U.S. Dollar<\/strong> strengthened and <strong>cryptocurrencies<\/strong> retreated, the market remains focused on whether the <strong>Fed<\/strong> will adjust its trajectory in light of the volatile energy market and cooling equity prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Global markets tumbled as the S&amp;P 500 fell 1.22% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.12%, fueled by U.S.-Iran [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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