Here are Global Markets This Week — week ending July 31, 2026:
1. Stocks: Rotation, chip sell-off, and a mixed finishIt was a tale of two markets in the US.
Early week pressure: A sharp sell-off in semiconductors pulled tech down. The PHLX semiconductor index fell nearly 6% Monday morning, briefly pushing Nasdaq-100 into correction territory. On Tuesday July 28, the market was highly polarized — Dow up over 350 points while Nasdaq shed more than 1%, with Nasdaq Composite around ∼24,600 down -1.3% on chip weakness. Memory-chip debut CXMT also stole attention in China as the most valuable mainland listing.
Mid-week rebound: The S&P 500 ended higher Tuesday as Boeing and Coca-Cola gains offset chip weakness, then Wall Street ended sharply higher Wednesday — S&P 500 gained 124.60 points, or 1.70%, to end at 7,440.75 points, while the Dow rose 607.28 points, or 1.18%, to 52,201.42 on soaring Microsoft results.
End of week: Friday, July 31 was mixed. Investopedia noted Dow logs slim July gains as Nasdaq and S&P 500 slip, with Amazon soaring and Apple sinking after earnings. Chip stocks lost 5.3% on the day, set for a weekly loss of 7.7%, the largest weekly decline since March 2025. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched weekly losses while the Dow was headed for a weekly gain.
In one late summary, the S&P 500 lost about 1.6% for the week, its third consecutive weekly decline, the Dow fell nearly 2%, and Nasdaq dropped about 1.3% — showing how choppy sentiment was around AI capex worries and Fed policy.
Global takeaway: Oil helped — WTI and Brent declined about 5% and 9% this week, easing after US-Iran tension spike earlier in the month.
2. Crypto: Extreme fear but bouncing
Volatile and fearful week.
Bitcoin was trading around $62,900, down from overnight highs around $65,300 on July 31. In another snapshot it was trading around $62,500 after losing more than 14.5% since the start of the week.
Ethereum showed relative strength early, climbing 3.7% from $1,776 to around $1,842 even as Bitcoin briefly fell below $62,000. One desk noted “Bitcoin and other crypto assets are in a holding pattern,” with Bitcoin up 1.1% to $64,532 while Ethereum dropped 0.6% to $1,906 in that session.
For the week, Ethereum fell more than 17% at its worst, reaching its lowest level since April 2025, as risk-off hit harder on altcoins.
Drivers: Fed leaving rates unchanged, $7.7B in options expiry, and spot ETF flows — ETFs saw $239M in net inflows on July 14, showing institutional buying into dips. Fear & Greed Index was still at 22 “Extreme Fear” even as prices recovered in early July.
3. Startup Funding: AI infra dominates large rounds
AI chips, data, and defense AI sucked up the mega-checks:
• Etched — $300M Series C — July 23, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Jane Street, SK hynix for AI infrastructure and semiconductors
• Glow — $180M Series A — July 22, Sequoia, Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Redpoint, Index for AI agents
• Cathedral — $160M to build AI-driven military cyber operations
• Humanoid — $152M Series A at $1.35B valuation, Prime Movers Lab, Schaeffler, Bosch
• Eliyan — $145M at $1B valuation to ease AI chip data bottlenecks in data centers
• Quaise Energy — $134M Series B for superhot geothermal
Earlier in the month, themes were similar: quantum computing (Qolab $54.2M Series B on July 2), and fusion (Proxima Fusion).
Crunchbase noted the week of July 18-24 had varied large deals, with Physical AI startup Atoms leading, and the third week of July saw $431M across 23 deals — up sharply from $107M the prior week.
Pattern: Fewer deals, bigger checks, and almost all around AI infrastructure, chips, and defense/energy that powers it.