S&P 500 Declines As Higher Oil Prices, AI Capex Spending, And Risk Of Rate Hikes Scare Wall Street Bulls

The S&P 500 (SPX) fell a little under 0.7% during the trading week ending on Friday, 24 July 2026. The index ended the week at 7,408.70, which is 201.08 points (or 2.6%) below its all-time high.

The past week didn't see a single catalyst to weigh on stock prices, but rather three of them. The CME Group's FedWatch Tool now projects two quarter-point rate hikes in the months ahead. The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tool's estimate of real GDP growth for the U.S. economy in the current quarter of 2026-Q2 was unchanged at +1.7%, with no updates in the past week.