Benchmark S&P Has Best July Since 1939

The stock market is done for July, and all the major indexes posted their best months of the year. For the day, the Dow rose 315 points, or nearly 1%, to 32,845; the S&P 500 rose 57 points, or 1.4%, to 4,130; and the Nasdaq rose 228 points, or 1.8%, to 12,390. Those numbers wrap up a strong week, with the Dow up 3% and the S&P and the tech-heavy Nasdaq up 4%, reports CNBC. And they also wrap up a strong month—the Dow is up 6% for July, its biggest gain since March 2021, while the benchmark S&P gained 9% and the Nasdaq 12%. For the latter two indexes, those are the best monthly gains since November 2020.

The Wall Street Journal adds this nugget: The monthly gain means the S&P had its best July since 1939. Friday's gains were led by strong numbers in particular from Amazon and Apple, per the AP. “This may just prove to be a bear market rally in the end—they are very common during longer bear markets—but the combination of rate reprieve, bearish sentiment and positioning, and corporate and consumer resilience in the face of inflation has been enough to spark a rally in risk assets,” Ross Mayfield of Baird tells CNBC.

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