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The month that was:
July was a tough month for tech stocks. The Nasdaq went down by about 3.2%, the S&P 500 was about flat, and the Dow went up by about 0.4%. Energy was the best sector, going up about 12%, while technology was the worst, falling about 8%.
On July 8th, the ceasefire with Iran broke down, and the U.S. launched new strikes. Oil prices jumped again, with Brent crude rising about 30% in July. Long-term interest rates also went up, and the 30-year Treasury yield rose above 5%. Inflation came down a little to 3.5% in June, but investors now expect that the Fed may raise interest rates in September. Big tech earnings caused big moves. Microsoft went up about 25% in July after strong results, while Tesla fell about 26%. Memory and chip equipment stocks, which went up so much earlier this year, fell sharply. SanDisk fell about 47%, and KLA fell about 39%. SpaceX's stock also fell below its IPO price, about 50% below its peak in June.
On July 1st, S&P Global, the company that creates the S&P 500 index, spun off its car data business into a new company called Mobility Global. A spin-off is when a company separates one of its businesses into a brand new company with its own stock. Shareholders of the original company automatically get shares of the new company. I owned S&P Global, so I received shares of Mobility Global without having to buy them.
Companies do spin-offs for a few reasons. Sometimes a business doesn't fit well with the rest of the company. When it is on its own, its managers can focus completely on it, and investors can value it more clearly. Studies have shown that spin-offs often do well over time, but in the first few weeks, many shareholders sell the new shares because they don't want to own a company they didn't choose. Last fall, I also received shares of Solstice Advanced Materials when Honeywell did a spin-off.
Buys -
Bought 33 ABT at $90.65
I added a lot more Abbott Laboratories. Abbott is a Dividend King, and I think it is a good, steady company to own while the market is volatile.
Bought 8 AMZN at $237.92
Bought 1 MSFT at $385.09
I added to Amazon and Microsoft, which are two of the biggest cloud computing companies in the world.
Bought 14 BR at $147.67
Bought 5 ICE at $127.65
Bought 3 CBOE at $246.84
I added to Broadridge, Intercontinental Exchange, and Cboe. These companies earn steady fees from the financial system.
Bought 15 SFM at $79.15
Bought 3 INTU at $271.10
Bought 1 NOW at $106.20
I added to Sprouts, Intuit, and ServiceNow.
Bought 17 RKLB at $64.48
Rocket Lab launches small rockets and builds parts for satellites. It is the second most active U.S. rocket launch company after SpaceX. I started a new position.
Bought 60 ADBU at $24.06
ADBU is a leveraged ETF that tries to move twice as much as Adobe each day. Adobe's stock has bounced back strongly from its lows in June, and I bought ADBU on the last day of the month.
Sells -
Sold 5 MU at $1002.69
Micron went above $1,000 a share. I sold five more shares, which I bought in April 2025 for about $71, for a profit of about 1,300%.
Sold 1 IESC at $735.00
I trimmed one more share of IES Holdings, which I bought last year for about $162, for a profit of more than 350%.
Sold 8 FDS at $248.01
Sold 38 NKE at $42.92
I sold some FactSet and Nike shares for small profits.
Sold 30 ASTS at $58.10
Sold 20 TREX at $47.13
Sold 10 UBER at $73.16
Sold 3 LOW at $212.82
I sold my AST SpaceMobile shares for a loss of about 16%, after space stocks fell along with SpaceX. I also sold some Trex, Uber, and Lowe's shares for small losses.
Sold 10 MBGL at $19.30
I sold the Mobility Global shares I received in the spin-off.
Buys and Sells -
Bought 6 ADBE at $214.01
Sold 6 ADBE at $249.44
I bought Adobe near its lows at the start of the month. Adobe kept bouncing back from its June lows, and I sold my shares at the end of the month for a profit of about 17%.
Bought 10 ISRG at $399.98
Sold 10 ISRG at $346.49
I bought Intuitive Surgical right before its earnings report. On July 16th, it reported results that beat expectations, but investors didn't like its forecast, and the stock fell about 11% the next day. I sold my shares for a loss of about 13%.
Bought 8 BLDR at $73.20
Sold 24 BLDR at $65.67
Builders FirstSource kept falling because of the slump in home building, and I sold most of my shares for a loss of about 20%.
Bought 8 RMD at $215.89
Sold 8 RMD at $192.90
Bought 8 RDDT at $178.90
Sold 8 RDDT at $155.94
ResMed, which makes machines for people with sleep apnea, and Reddit both fell after I bought them, and I sold them for losses of about 11% and 13%.
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