Here is a look at how the major equity indexes are performing as of July 20th, 2026.
Index | June 30 Close | Current Price | Month-to-Date (MTD) | Year-to-Date (YTD) | Trailing 12-Month (TTM) |
S&P 500 | 7,499 | 7,443 | 🔻-0.75% | 🟢+9.06% | 🟢+17.92% |
Nasdaq Composite | 26,126 | 25,508 | 🔻-2.37% | 🟢+9.92% | 🟢+21.67% |
As you can see both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq (tech focused) are both slightly negative for the month but year-to-date results remain strong and the trailing 12 months performance is very positive. Remember, stocks don’t go in one direction indefinitely and it’s healthy to see some consolidation here after a long rally.
Now let’s talk earnings…
The companies that make up the S&P 500 index are expected to report year-over-year growth ofnearly 24%for the second quarter. There has been a lot of talk that this growth is all attributed to just a few technology giants and the rest of the market is struggling….But this simply isn’t true. According the FactSet, if we remove the 7 largest companies from the S&P 500 (Known as the Magnificent 7), we see that the remaining 493 companies are collectively expected to report earnings growth of23%. So contrary to popular belief, this is not a narrow market. There are lots of companies in various industries outside of the tech giants that are doing very well. This is a good sign for the health of the overall market.
As far as inflation….
As I’ve been saying for months, when oil prices come down, inflation will ease. And that’s exactly what has happened. Core CPI (our preferred gauge of inflation) slowed to 2.6% year-over-year in June, well below estimates and well below the historical average core inflation rate as well…
Going back all the way to 1957, core CPI has averaged 3.1%. Today we are at 2.6%.
In my opinion, we don’t have a systemic inflation problem right now. We had oil prices surge due to geopolitical conflict which temporarily drove energy prices much higher which temporarily caused an inflation spike. That spike seems to now be receding. If I had it may way, I'd like to see the Federal Reserve cut interest rates and provide relief to homeowners who are stuck paying 6-7% mortgage rates. If we saw interest rates come down that could free up a lot of cash flow for consumers who could put that money to work in other areas of the economy instead of just sending it to their mortgage company where it's not doing anyone much good.
What to expect?
You probably know what I’m going to say, but I’ll say it anyway. We should always expect a stock market correction to be lurking somewhere on the horizon. On average we see 4 or 5 “mini-corrections” per year. I would describe a mini-correction as a pullback in the S&P 500 index of 5-10%. We’ve only seen one such correction in 2026 and we’re halfway through the year. Don’t be surprised if the second half of the year is more volatile than the first half….And when the next correction arrives just remember that it is normal and healthy and doesn’t mean something is wrong. Since 1980 there have been about 200 corrections of 5% or greater…Despite this, $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 would have grown to nearly $2,000,000 over that same timeframe. We accept the volatility in exchange for the life-changing growth potential the market offers to patient investors.