Week of August 3–7, 2026
July is usually a strong month for stocks. This year, it wasn't.
Here's the simple version. The market didn't move in one direction. It split.
The Dow finished with its fourth winning month in a row.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both went the other way. The S&P rose about 1% on the week and clawed its way back to essentially flat for July. The Nasdaq gained a little over 1.5% on the week but still closed the month down 3.2%.
So the headlines look messy. But the better story was happening underneath the surface.
Most stocks actually had a good month.
While the AI trade sorted itself into winners and losers, the other 493 companies in the S&P 500 quietly did just fine. When you measure the index in a way that treats every company equally, instead of letting the giants dominate, July was a gain... and it beat the Nasdaq by about 4 percentage points.
That's what people in the market call "breadth." It means money is spreading out beyond a handful of famous names. Ramie reads it as evidence the broader market still has buyers, while the mega-caps sort out which of them is actually earning its premium.
Where the market stands technically. The S&P 500 is sitting in neutral-to-positive territory, and the floor it's been bouncing off of has held on every recent test. Its structure and momentum are both already in a strong zone. There's one specific level above the current price that Ramie is watching, and a break above it would put the market firmly back in bullish territory.
The Nasdaq is holding neutral. Its support has held too, and its structure is intact... but momentum is the piece that's missing. It has a level to clear before it can take a run at its old high.
Then there's the Fed.
On July 30, the Fed left interest rates unchanged. But the vote is what told the real story: 9 to 3, with three officials wanting to raise rates instead. The last meeting was unanimous. That's a hawkish shift. Meanwhile the bond market is still deciding how much it trusts the Fed. Longer-term yields rose sharply on inflation fears while shorter-term yields fell.
Through all of it, the Fortress technical gauges have stayed focused, disciplined and invested.
Every week, Fortress Financial clients receive Ramie's complete newsletter... the full charts, the price levels he's watching, and what all of it means for how their money is positioned. What you just read is a small slice of it.
The market is giving mixed signals right now. Some of it looks strong. Some of it looks fragile.
Do you have someone in your corner who can tell you the difference?
If you're not sure, that's exactly what a conversation with the Fortress Financial team is for. No pressure, no obligation, just clarity on where you stand and what your options are. Click here to schedule your complimentary call.