Wall St falls as tech earnings spark AI spending worries and oil hits $100

Wall St falls as tech earnings spark AI spending worries and oil hits $100

By Sinéad Carew and Ragini Mathur

Thu July 23, 2026  

Today was the perfect trifecta after disappointing Q2 from both Tesla and Alphabet drove all three indexes straight down from the open raising more concerns above AI spending and overvaluations in tech. Then there was oil hitting the magic 100, the benchmark that causes panic to set in about inflation. The war itself and all its escalations was the third part of the day’s troubles.  

Both the Dow and Nasdaq had major losses in the mid-3-digits and even the S&P came close to 3-digits. Many stocks fell despite overall great numbers as even the strong earnings reports today no longer seemed to justify the high prices. At 18.7, the VIX was at its highest level in a month. Volume came in at 16.21, still below the 18.51 average but getting closer. 

DJ: 52,218.58  -6.06          NAS: 25,690.90  -146.30         S&P: 7,498,96  -10.24             7/22

DJ: 51,711.65  -506.93      NAS: 25,137.69  -553.21         S&P: 7,408.30  -90.66             7/23

Thu 7-23-26 6:10 pm Wall St falls as tech earnings spark AI spending worries and oil hits $100 | Reuters