Oil above $100 tests markets as Intel revenue jumps 25%

Macro overnight

Friday began with an inflation-and-rates problem rather than a single-company story. Reuters reported that Brent crude had surged 7% overnight to a two-month high of $102 before easing to $100.30 a barrel by 3:47 a.m. ET. Shipping disruption around the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz kept the supply risk in focus. Oil above $100 can raise fuel and transport costs, but the duration of the disruption matters more than one volatile print.

The bond market reinforced that message. Reuters put the U.S. 10-year yield near an 18-month high at 4.7035% and the dollar index at 101.40. The official U.S. Treasury curve closed Thursday, July 23, at 4.37% for two years and 4.71% for ten years, up 6 and 4 basis points from Wednesday. Cboe’s official series showed the VIX closing at 18.70, 2.06 points above its July 22 close. Together, those readings describe tighter financial conditions, not a forecast for the day’s close.

Europe was expected to open steadier after Thursday’s losses, while Asian weakness remained broad. The useful distinction is between company execution and the discount rate investors apply to future cash flows: strong revenue can support an individual business, while higher oil and yields can still compress the value assigned to long-duration growth across the market.

Your tickers

INTC — revenue growth accelerated, with an important accounting split. Intel’s SEC-filed release reported second-quarter revenue of $16.1 billion, up 25% year over year. Data Center and AI revenue rose 59% to $6.3 billion, Client Computing and Physical AI rose 13% to $8.9 billion, and Intel Foundry revenue rose 31% to $5.8 billion before intersegment eliminations. The company generated $7.0 billion of operating cash flow. It also reported a GAAP net loss attributable to Intel of $11.0 billion and GAAP diluted EPS of negative $2.16, while non-GAAP EPS was $0.42; those measures should not be mixed.

For the third quarter, Intel guided to $15.8 billion–$16.8 billion of revenue, 41% GAAP gross margin and $0.31 of GAAP diluted EPS; the corresponding non-GAAP figures were 42% and $0.38. CNBC independently reported that revenue and adjusted EPS exceeded the LSEG consensus it cited, while noting that data-centre customers were asking for more server CPUs than Intel could produce. Yahoo’s timestamped chart showed INTC at $103.49 in premarket trading at 4:11 a.m. ET, up 8.90% from Thursday’s $95.04 close. Premarket quotes are moving indications, not regular-session prices.

What to watch today

The controlled checkpoints are straightforward. First, see whether Brent holds above $100 after the overnight surge. Second, compare INTC’s regular-session price and volume with the 4:11 a.m. indication rather than assuming the gap will persist. Third, watch whether the two-year and ten-year yields stabilize. The morning evidence supports caution about cross-asset volatility; it does not determine where stocks finish or prescribe a trade.