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Daily Finance & Markets Brief · July 29th
storyflo · finance and markets
Jul 29, 2026 · 3 min listen · Last updated July 29, 2026
From storyflo. This is your daily audio brief. Hey, Mason here. July 29th. The opening read — five stories that explain today's tape. Let's get into it. First, from The Daily Upside. ETF Odyssey Continues as Issuers Sail Toward Another Record-Breaking Year.
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Daily Finance & Markets Brief · July 29th
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ETF Odyssey Continues as Issuers Sail Toward Another Record-Breaking Year
The ETF market is looking a lot like showings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey: crowded and breaking records.
There have been 868 ETF launches in the US through July 27, according to CFRA data, putting the market easily on track for yet another record-breaking year. Single-stock and artificial intelligence, or other tech-related funds, have been especially popular, said Deborah Fuhr, founder of the research firm ETFGI.
After Wild Ride, ETF Investors Pump the Brakes on Energy Funds
Who even has the energy anymore?
Oil prices have risen and fallen at a dizzying pace this year amid uncertainty over the war with Iran, touching $90 a barrel last week, as US forces marked nearly two weeks of strikes against the country. A pause in attacks this week, without an official ceasefire, sent prices downward: The United States Oil Fund (USO) dropped 8% over five days.
SoftBank Sells Yen Bond to Institutions at Year’s Highest Coupon
SoftBank Group Corp. on Wednesday priced a ¥90 billion ($550 million) bond offering sold to institutional investors as the company broadens its funding sources at home and abroad to pay for its massive investments in artificial intelligence.
Japan’s GPIF Boosts JGB Expertise by Employing Active Bond Funds
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund hired active domestic bond funds for the first time in five years, a recognition that one of the world’s biggest retirement money managers needs to increase its expertise to deal with volatility in the nation’s debt market.
Hey, so you know how we've been talking about the AI bubble? Well, it seems like some air's coming out of that now. Money's moving into more conservative areas like healthcare and real estate. The trend model I look at just flipped a bit more positive, from -3 to -1, which could be a signal to start looking for some buying opportunities. Nothing too crazy, but it's worth keeping an eye on.
The S&P 500's still trading around 4,100, and the Nasdaq's around 13,400. Nothing too dramatic's happening there. It's just a slow grind, you know? People are rotating out of some of the more speculative stuff and into more stable areas.
I'm not gonna sit here and tell you what to do, but it's worth noting that this could be a good time to start looking at some of the bigger tech names that have been getting hammered lately. I'm thinking about Microsoft and Meta, they're both due to report earnings soon. If they can show some strength, that could be a good catalyst for the market.
For listeners who want low-fee crypto exposure, our markets partner Kraken supports Bitcoin — link in show notes.
Hey, before we get to today’s newsletter, here’s a quick update.
Our aim at Zerodha Varsity is to make financial education simple and accessible. Apart from writing these newsletters, we also conduct free bootcamps, workshops, and online sessions across topics such as stock markets, trading, macroeconomics, and personal finance.
If you haven’t explored them yet, you can check out our online sessions here and upcoming events here.
The market has never been short of surprises.
TTG EOD Market Review⚡: Positions, Themes & Global Trend Portfolio
Traders-
Here is your end of day Market Recap:
💹 Today’s Market Themes
RSP Breakout with Fins XLF and XLV Health Care Super Strong
Macro: Bonds TLT +0.6% / Dollar UUP -0.1% / VIX -2.5%
Crude -4% $79, AI stocks sold again
Med Devices, Builders, Comm., Materials, HC, Staples +
Energy, Clean Energy, Semis, Quantum -
Index Review SPY QQQ IWM
🎥 End of Day Market Recap Video
📈 % from Open + Themes 📉
🧰 “Out of the Box” Proprietary Stock Screen🧰
Notes Regarding the Below Lists:
Names trending above their Value Area on 3 different timeframes
Uses Volume at Price — MarketWebs (MW) Trading System learn m
Why the Korean Won Matters for AI and Semiconductor Stocks
Please remember to subscribe to my Substack to receive this free daily commentary—which I work very hard to produce—directly in your inbox.
Today’s commentary was first introduced on June 5 for Advanced-Topics members.
Semiconductors were hit hard again today, and it is probably no surprise that the Korean won continued to strengthen. The won appears to have become an important part of the semiconductor story we’ve witnessed over the past several months. Korean investment flows into the U.S.
Housekeeping: good evening.
Morning Rundown:
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StockQuakes Top 10 Average Index Charts
StockQuakes identify noteworthy changes in the market. StockQuakes sizes can be small, medium, large, and huge. The Daily Top 10 UP Average Index is an aggregate value of noteworthy changes in stocks that ended the day with stock prices higher than they opened per our AI algorithms. The Daily Top 10 UP Average Index is LARGE today with a StockQuakes level of 6.7.
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