S&P 500 closes 1.48% higher at 7,600.5 as Iran talks cut crude 5.44%

S&P 500 close: 7,600.50 (+1.48%) Nasdaq: 25,913.90 (+2.13%) Sentiment: bullish

The S&P 500 closed at 7,600.50 on 3 August 2026, up 1.48%, after President Trump called off planned strikes on Iran and said talks would begin Monday, pushing WTI crude down 5.44% to $80.06 and the US 10-year yield down 5.9 basis points to 4.686%. Oracle ORCL.US rose 9.22% to $141.85, the largest single-name contribution to the index, extending a run that began with its 30 July agreement to embed Google's Gemini models in Fusion Applications and NetSuite. Cheaper crude and lower yields lifted the rate-sensitive end of the market, where the Russell 2000 gained 1.73% to 2,981.9.

What moved the index

• Hyperscalers plus Oracle: MSFT.US +4.93%, GOOGL.US +4.88%, AMZN.US +4.58%, META.US +6.02% and ORCL.US +9.22% were worth roughly 102 bps of the 148 bps index move on their combined weight of about 20%. Second-quarter cloud results from Microsoft, Amazon and Meta pointed to sustained AI datacentre spending.
• NVDA.US +2.93% and TSLA.US +3.49%: roughly 29 bps between them on a combined weight near 9.5%.
• AAPL.US -1.78%: subtracted about 11 bps in a fourth straight losing session. Apple guided fiscal Q4 revenue growth to 9% to 11% on 30 July against 12.1% consensus, and memory prices are raising its hardware costs.
• Energy and healthcare: XLE.US -1.28% and XLV.US -0.19% removed about 6 bps between them. AZN.US fell 6.88% on reports of preliminary merger talks with Bristol Myers Squibb, and LLY.US fell 2.39%.

Those drivers account for about 115 bps of the 148 bps move. The residual 33 bps came from the rest of the index as falling yields lifted rate-sensitive sectors: XLI.US +1.85%, XLY.US +1.83%, XLB.US +1.15% and XLF.US +0.77%.

Session highlights

• WTI crude fell 5.44% to $80.06 and Brent fell 5.03% to $83.51 after Trump called off the strikes and said negotiations would restart Monday.
• 10-year Treasury yield fell 5.9 basis points to 4.686%, which lifted the Russell 2000 by 1.73% to 2,981.9.
• ORCL.US +9.22% to $141.85 led the largest index names, ahead of META.US +6.02% and MSFT.US +4.93%.
• Memory names held Nasdaq futures to 0.11% before the open after South Korea's KOSPI fell 5.12%. The Nasdaq composite closed 2.13% higher, the strongest of the three headline indices.
• VIX closed at 15.86, down 0.81%, and the dollar index finished at 99.96, up 0.05%.
• Gold settled at $4,110.90, up 0.09%, against crude's 5.44% fall on the same de-escalation headline.

Sector scorecard

• Best: Communication Services (XLC.US +2.86%)
• Worst: Energy (XLE.US -1.28%)
• Dispersion (best minus worst): 4.14 points
• Technology trailed the Nasdaq at XLK.US +1.53%, because AAPL.US -1.78% and AVGO.US +0.76% offset MSFT.US +4.93% and NVDA.US +2.93%.

Top movers

After-hours earnings

Palantir PLTR.US reported second-quarter revenue of $1.94 billion on 3 August 2026, up 92.8% year on year, with adjusted earnings of $0.41 a share against $0.33 consensus. US commercial revenue rose 149% to $764 million, GAAP operating income reached $912 million at a 47% margin, and the company raised full-year 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $8.15 billion to $8.16 billion, about 82% growth. PLTR.US closed the regular session at $125.65, up 2.10%, and traded near $140 after the bell.

Notable announcements

• Prysmian agreed to acquire Atkore ATKR.US at $95 per share in cash. ATKR.US closed at $93.55.
• Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca held preliminary merger talks according to media reports, a combination valued near $400 billion. AZN.US fell 6.88% to $157.97.
• Marriott MAR.US fell 6.97% after Q2 revenue of $7.07 billion missed a $7.17 billion to $7.26 billion consensus range, with Middle East revenue per available room down 43%, even as adjusted earnings of $3.19 a share beat the $3.05 to $3.08 range.
• eBay EBAY.US fell 6.03% after Wells Fargo cut it to Underweight from Equal Weight on Depop marketing costs against Vinted's US entry.
• GameStop GME.US fell 12.25% after agreeing to exchange about $1.4 billion of convertible notes for common stock.
• Li Auto LI.US fell 3.74% after July deliveries of 30,468 vehicles came in 0.9% below a year earlier.

Next session catalysts (ET)

• Tue 09:30: US cash open. ES=F settled at 7,631.25 and NQ=F at 28,929.25.
• Tue: PLTR.US trades its first full session on the second-quarter print.
• This week: AMD.US, LLY.US, COP.US, SNDK.US, WDC.US and APP.US report second-quarter results.
• Ongoing: Iran negotiations, the trigger for crude's 5.44% fall and the move in yields.

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