The stock market finished higher on Friday, ending a volatile month with solid gains as investors shrugged off the recent rise in Treasury yields.
The 30-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2007 at 5.25%, while the benchmark 10-year yield topped 4.7%, its highest since January 2025.
Overall, S&P 500 was up 0.7% to 7,490, while Nasdaq increased 1.0% to 25,374.
Tweet of the Day
There is a new bear case on $BE but we disagree (Save this).
A recent Invest Like the Best episode argued the US natural gas market could tighten materially starting in 2028.
He framed that as bearish for Bloom Energy specifically.
Our read is different.
The real risk to $BE… pic.twitter.com/hPwPT8npLm
— Milk Road Stocks (@MilkRoadStocks) July 27, 2026
Chart of the Day
Here is the one-year chart of Booking Holdings (BKNG) as of July 8, 2026, when the stock was at $174.
Booking Holdings delivered solid performance last quarter despite headwinds from the Middle East conflict, which caused travel disruptions and softer booking trends in affected markets, particularly toward the end of the quarter. However, it viewed the impact as a temporary headwind rather than a structural decline in travel demand, emphasizing that underlying consumer demand for travel remained resilient.
The company delivered 15% profit growth on 16% revenue growth, which we feel is solid. Gross bookings increased 15%, another good number. Management estimates the conflict reduced room night and gross bookings growth by around 2%. Growth was supported by sustained global travel demand, higher gross bookings and growth in room nights.
Performance remained strong across key markets, with the exception of the Rest of World segment, which includes the Middle East and declined by low single digits.
Looking ahead, management expects the impact of the Middle East conflict to be higher next quarter, with a recovery anticipated in the second half of the year.
BKNG is part of our Conservative Growth Portfolio.
