Week of July 20 - July 24, 2026

The heaviest week of Q2 earnings season collides with the ECB and the July flash PMIs, all while the Fed sits in its pre-meeting blackout ahead of the July 28-29 FOMC. The marquee session is Wednesday's close, when Alphabet and Tesla report within minutes of each other -- the first two Magnificent Seven names of the quarter, and the market's first real read on whether AI-capex enthusiasm can outrun the semiconductor wobble that dragged the Philadelphia chip index into bear-market territory last week. Thursday brings the European Central Bank: after June's surprise 25bps hike to a 2.25% deposit rate -- its first since 2023 -- a survey of economists is unanimous for a hold, so the entire signalling burden falls on Lagarde's press conference and any hint of a September follow-up. The same morning delivers US jobless claims and Intel's earnings (its first potential GAAP profit in seven quarters), and Friday closes the week with the July flash PMIs across the eurozone, UK, and US plus June new home sales. China's Loan Prime Rate on Monday opens proceedings. With the Fed silenced until the 29th, this is a week where earnings guidance and the ECB tone, not Fed-speak, set the tape.