Markets Reach New Closing Highs, Netflix Beats on Q2 Earnings

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Another blissfully bullish day on the stock market saw the Dow grow +229 points, +0.52%, the S&P 500 +33, +0.54%, the Nasdaq +153 points, +0.74%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 led the way once again for the session: +27 points, +1.22%. The Dow is +4.56% year to date and +7.98% over the past year, the S&P +7.07% and +12.69% — the ninth all-time high this year so far — the Nasdaq +8.15% and +16.04%, and the Russell 2000 +1.07% and +0.64%.

Bond yields moderated a bit, after moving higher on a bevy of strong economic reports this morning and the specter that a changing of the guard at the Fed will result in lower interest rates. Though Fed Chair Jerome Powell has until May 2026 to serve out his term, there has been open speculation this week that he could be replaced (much) sooner than that. The 10-year sits at +4.46%, the 2-year is +3.91% and the 30-year remains above +5.01%.

Business Inventories for May came in earlier today at 0.0% for the second month in a row, as expected. This is the fourth month of the past 12 that has been flat; only one month, December had a negative print (-0.2%). Homebuilder Confidence for July reached 33, as expected, and slightly above the 32 reported the prior month.
 

Q2 Earnings After the Bell: Netflix, Interactive Brokers Both Beat

The first of the so-called “Magnificent 7” stocks has reported earnings this afternoon, with streaming giant Netflix NFLX outpacing estimates on its bottom line — earnings of $7.19 per share versus the $7.07 consensus — while basically in-line on the top: $11.08 billion versus $11.09 billion expected. Net income grew $3.1 billion, while Operating Margins came in at +34.1%.

Revenue guidance for the full-year was raised to a range of $44.8-45.2 billion. It also marks Netflix’s sixth-straight quarterly earnings beat, even though the company no longer posts subscriber numbers. Shares are down less than -1% in late trading, but the stock is already up +43% year to date.

Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated Interactive Brokers IBKR outperformed on both top and bottom lines in its Q2 report out after today’s closing bell. Earnings of 51 cents per share beat estimates by a solid nickel, while revenues reached $1.48 billion in the quarter, well ahead of the $1.36 billion analysts had been expecting. This is IBKR’s third earnings beat in its last five quarters. Shares are up almost +5% in after-hours trading.
 

What to Expect from the Stock Market Friday

Ahead of Friday’s open, Housing Starts and Building Permits for June will be hitting the tape, expected up slightly on new starts and steady on permits. Also a preliminary read on Consumer Confidence comes out for July, expected to ramp up to 61.8 from 60.7 reported last month. 

Also, Q2 earnings season keeps the parade moving along, with results from 3M MMM, oilfield services company Schlumberger SLB, American Express AXP and more. Next week, the surge of earnings reports grows, and will include Alphabet GOOGL, Intel INTC and Tesla TSLA, among hundreds of others.

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