Tuesday, August 4, 2026 — the latest completed session — was an earnings-led risk-on day, with corporate results giving US equities a second leg while lower oil removed some macro pressure. AP and Kiplinger both put company results at the centre of the move: Kiplinger reported Caterpillar at $8.17 per share on $20.5 billion of revenue versus estimates of $6.20 and $19.2 billion, while AP said the shares rose 5.6% after the stronger report. (AP, Kiplinger)
The macro calendar added little surprise. The BLS reported June job openings little changed at 7.4 million, with 5.3 million hires, while AP described 7.36 million openings versus 7.54 million in May and said the result was in line with expectations. That left the tape reading as earnings plus oil relief, not a fresh labour-market shock. (BLS, AP)
The tape at a glance
| Market | Direction | Read |
|---|---|---|
| US tech (Nasdaq) | Up | +2.6% to 26,584.99 as earnings and semiconductors broadened the move. |
| US large caps | Up | S&P 500 +1.8% to 7,736.52; Dow +1.7% to 54,085.88. |
| EUR/USD | Slightly firmer | FX moved less than equities; AP's Wednesday-morning snapshot had the euro at $1.1540. |
| Bitcoin | Modestly higher | Around 64,000; with the two independent history checks pointing in the same direction. |
The US closes above are reported by AP and match the relevant S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq historical tables. Only independently corroborated prints are carried into the thesis.
Indices
The US move was broad across the headline benchmarks: the S&P 500 added 136.02 points, the Dow added 907.47 points and the Nasdaq added 671.10 points. AP put the closes at 7,736.52, 54,085.88 and 26,584.99 respectively; the historical tables show the same levels and daily direction. (AP, S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq)
AP named Caterpillar and Palantir among the leaders and noted gains in Nvidia, Broadcom and Micron; Kiplinger independently documents the Caterpillar beat. The DAX history table was higher, but its exchange-side page did not expose a comparable text row, so no DAX level is carried forward. (AP, Kiplinger, Deutsche Börse DAX history, DAX table)
Commodities
Oil supplied the cleanest cross-asset confirmation. AP reported Brent down 5.3% on Tuesday, and Investing’s historical table records a close of 79.36 and a -5.26% daily change. Those are different levels of precision for the same move, so the useful conclusion is simply that the energy premium fell sharply. (AP, Brent history)
Gold, copper and natural gas were checked but lacked matching independent settlements, so no number or direction is assigned. That is a verification choice, not a claim they were flat.
Forex
The dollar complex offered a quieter message. Investing’s tables show DXY nearly unchanged, EUR/USD modestly firmer and USD/JPY modestly higher; AP’s next-morning market check put the euro at $1.1540 and the dollar at 157.48 yen. That is consistent with limited FX confirmation of the equity surge, rather than a second large cross-asset repricing. (DXY, EUR/USD, USD/JPY, AP)
Crypto
Crypto participated, but with less force than stocks. Investing’s August 4 history shows Bitcoin at 64,096.2, up 0.92%, and Ethereum at 1,870.05, up 0.53%. CoinGecko’s UTC closes were 64,062 for Bitcoin and 1,868.62 for Ethereum. The venues use different timestamps, but both sources agree on the modestly positive direction and the approximate levels. (Bitcoin history, Ethereum history, CoinGecko Bitcoin, CoinGecko Ethereum)
What it means for a systematic book
Tuesday is a useful contrast with Monday’s Iran/oil relief session. The immediate driver shifted from a geopolitical pause to earnings breadth, while the cross-asset confirmation remained uneven: equities surged, oil eased, FX barely moved and crypto only improved modestly.
For a systematic book, that is a reminder to separate the equity signal from the macro story. A model exposed to US growth shares, semiconductor momentum and industrial earnings may be expressing one common risk impulse even when the portfolio appears diversified by ticker. Testing those exposures across news-led and macro-led regimes is part of a proof-oriented backtesting process. This note records the conditions of the session; it does not turn them into a forecast or a trade instruction.
Sources
- AP: US stock indexes
- AP: stocks, rates and oil market recap
- Kiplinger: earnings calendar
- BLS: JOLTS release
- AP: job openings report
- Investing.com: S&P 500 history
- Investing.com: Dow history
- Investing.com: Nasdaq Composite history
- Investing.com: DAX history
- Deutsche Börse: DAX historical prices
- Investing.com: Brent history
- Investing.com: DXY history
- Investing.com: EUR/USD history
- Investing.com: USD/JPY history
- Investing.com: Bitcoin history
- Investing.com: Ethereum history
- CoinGecko: Bitcoin historical data
- CoinGecko: Ethereum historical data