Sellers controlled the tape from the open and never lost it.
Home Depot's beat and reaffirmed guidance couldn't offset the bigger macro story: the 30-year Treasury yield pushed to its highest level in nearly two decades and the 10-year pressed toward 4.75% as Trump refused to extend the lapsed Iran ceasefire, sending crude higher into the close. Semis were the epicenter, with Nvidia and peers sliding into tomorrow's Wolfspeed print and next week's Nvidia earnings, dragging the Nasdaq down roughly 1.3% while the Dow held closer to flat behind defensive rotation into names like J&J, IBM and Chevron.
The S&P closed back below the 7,730-7,750 shelf it had been chopping around, effectively losing the flip zone and settling into the lower half of the week's range. Call-wall resistance up near the prior 7,800 record high remained untested intraday — dealers likely stayed short gamma into the close given the one-way flow, which argues for wider realized ranges overnight rather than pinning. QQQ broke its recent support shelf on the chip damage; leadership was inverted, with energy and healthcare green while tech and communication services lagged hardest.
The risk: Wednesday brings July FOMC minutes (a 9-3 vote with three dissents wanting a hike) plus Lowe's and Target earnings, and Jackson Hole lands August 27-29 with Warsh's first address as Chair — any hawkish read on that minutes release or a further leg in the 30-year selloff flips this from an orderly pullback into a gamma-unclamped air pocket, especially with oil still bid on Iran headlines.