Welp, so much for figuring out the market’s direction this week. A steep drop across all indexes Monday stemmed from a spike in U.S. Covid cases threatening to throw a wet blanket over the heat of the Great Reopening. This was followed up by a return to investors’ preference in cyclical value stocks compared to growth companies, as the Nasdaq lagged the Dow. Today, up across the board, and meaningfully so.The Dow is currently enjoying its strongest two-day rally since March, +0.83% this Hump Day. The S&P 500 was right there today: +0.82%. The Nasdaq showed the growth/tech trade is still viable, +0.92% while the small-cap Russell 2000 beat the larger indexes for the second-straight day, +1.81%. Though still down 2.7% for the month of July so far, the index is +1.65% over the last five days, including Monday’s sell-off.In fact, all the major indexes today raced into the close to finish at or near session highs. Strange as it may seem, especially after everyone’s hair was on fire Monday, both the Dow and S&P 500 are back within 1% of new all-time closing records. Welcome back, bull market!Texas Instruments TXN easily beat estimates on both top and bottom lines after today’s close, with earnings of $2.05 per share on $4.58 billion in sales well outpacing the Zacks consensus $1.82 per share and $4.34 billion in revenues, respectively. Its Analog business brought in $3.46 billion in sales, better than expected. The company has not posted an earnings miss since Q1 2015.However, shares fell 3% in the after-market on weaker-than-expected guidance for Q3 both on earnings and sales. While Zacks consensus estimates of $1.96 per share and $4.6 billion in revenues are still within the guidance ranges, these estimates are now toward the higher points of those ranges. Going into this Q2 earnings report, Texas Instruments was carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).Also a Zacks Rank #2 ahead of its Q2 earnings release this afternoon, Whirlpool WHR posted strong beats on its top and bottom lines, as well: $6.64 per share versus $5.89 expected (and $2.15 per share in the year-ago period), and $5.32 billion in sales versus $4.87 billion in the Zacks consensus. The durable goods major brought in $3.04 billion from North America, $1.25 billion from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and $763 million in Latin America.Whirlpool also increased its guidance for Q3 on earnings and revenues in its report. Even still, shares are down slightly: -0.5% in late trading, following a +1.9% boost in the regular session. The company has gained +22.8% year to date and +47.9% from a year-ago — which was, of course, deep in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic. The company now has a streak of 13 straight quarterly earnings beats.Las Vegas Sands LVS, however, did not fare as well, missing estimates on both top and bottom lines in its Q2 release this afternoon. A loss per share of -$0.26 was worse than the expected -19 cents (though an improvement from the year-ago quarter’s -$1.05 per share) on $1.17 billion in revenues. The Zacks consensus on the top lines was for $1.39 billion.The global gaming and entertainment company is invested heavily in Macau, near Hong Kong, and much of the region is still closed down. Las Vegas Sands saw $1.32 billion in Macau revenues, down from the expected $1.68 billion. This also marks 11 quarterly earnings misses over the past five years, and fourth in the last five quarters.Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>> Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases. Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN): Free Stock Analysis Report Whirlpool Corporation (WHR): Free Stock Analysis Report Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report