• The top 10 best performers in the S&P 500 Index are all energy companies and the sector now accounts for 4.5% of the index, more than double its pre-pandemic weighting. The 10 worst performing stocks include Netflix and Meta. 
• As of late July, the average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.3%, which is up from a year ago when it was at 2.5%. This is the highest-level mortgage rate since 2008. 
• In the U.S., food prices rose 10.4% in June from 2021, the biggest increase in 40 years. The invasion of Ukraine compounded the food price problem by cutting the world off from the country supplying roughly a quarter of the globe’s wheat, plus sunflower oil.  
• After a rough first half, the S&P 500 rallied 9.1% in July, its strongest month since November 2020. The gains pared the index’s year-to-date decline to 13%.