The stock market had a strong, broad advance, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones all hitting new highs and small caps jumping. A Fed rate cut in September seems a virtual lock despite hot inflation readings. Some leading growth stocks came under pressure, but financials, homebuilders and biotechs stepped up.
Airlines rose as ailing Spirit Air raised going-concern doubts again, while Amazon.com popped on a big new grocery push. Sea was an earnings winner, but CoreWeave, Circle Internet and Applied Materials were notable losers.
Stock Market Strong Amid Shifts
The major indexes rose more than 1% for the week, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting fresh highs along the way, even with many AI-adjacent plays and other growth names running into trouble. Small caps surged to a six-month high, while homebuilders, financials and biotechs also ramped up. It's unclear if a market rotation is underway or if the uptrend is expanding.
Hot Data Doesn't Cool Fed Hopes
Two hot inflation reports and pretty solid retail sales data over the past week only slightly cooled expectations for significant near-term Federal Reserve rate cuts. Markets still see overwhelming odds of a rate cut on Sept. 17 and at least one more before the year is up, with a decent chance of a third cut. Core consumer inflation picked up to 3.1%, above forecasts, though goods prices showed a relatively modest effect from Trump tariffs so far. Services inflation was the culprit, with airfares up 4%. Producer prices for final demand surged 0.9% vs. June but details were less concerning. Retail sales matched forecasts with a 0.5% rise overall, but upward revisions to past data suggest the consumer is still spending.
Amazon Jumps On Grocery Delivery Push
Amazon.com is revamping its approach to grocery — a category where it has long been chasing Walmart. The tech giant announced that it will offer same-day delivery of perishables in 2,300 U.S. cities and towns by year-end. Amazon previously only offered perishable items through its Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh brands. Now they will be available through the broader Amazon.com, with the option to add fresh grocery items to standard orders. Amazon stock jumped. The news slammed Instacart parent Maplebear and hit DoorDash, while Walmart fell modestly.
Futures: Big Speech For Fed's Powell Looms; Tesla Eyes New Buy Point
Cisco Beats, Order Growth Slows
Cisco Systems reported fiscal Q4 earnings and revenue that edged by estimates, up 14% and 8%, respectively. New product orders rose 7%, slowing from 20% in the prior quarter. But artificial intelligence network infrastructure orders exceeded $800 million, up from $600 million in Q3 said. Cisco had $2.1 billion in overall AI orders at the end of fiscal Q4, up from $1.3 billion in April. The tech giant guided slightly higher for Q1 and in line for fiscal 2026. Shares fell modestly, back below a buy point, but rebounded off the 50-day line.
CoreWeave Tumbles After Results, Lockup Expires
CoreWeave reported a wider-than-expected Q2 loss, though it narrowed vs. a year earlier. Revenue soared 206% to $1.213 billion amid surging artificial intelligence compute demand in the June quarter. A cloud computing services provider, CoreWeave rents out servers equipped with Nvidia chips. CoreWeave guided slightly higher on Q3 and full-year revenue. It raised 2025 guidance by $250 million to $5.25 billion. The lockup period for CoreWeave stock tied to the IPO expired on Aug. 15. Shares, which started the week strongly higher, dived to their worst levels since late May.
Ford's 'Model T Moment'?
Ford announced its new "universal electric vehicle platform" on Monday, which it heralded as its "Model T moment," with plans to release a midsize EV pickup truck in 2027 with a $30,000 starting price. CEO Jim Farley said that Ford has been working on the project for three years and that it "represents the most radical change in how we design and how we build vehicles at Ford since the Model T." That includes a ground-up redesign to its assembly line process, aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing stress and demands on line workers. The automaker also said it is investing $2 billion into its Louisville assembly plant in addition to its previously announced $3 billion for a battery plant in Michigan. Ford stressed that the investments and the EV platform will keep around 4,000 jobs in the U.S.
Airlines Soar On Ailing Spirit
Spirit Airlines' parent Spirit Aviation warned that it may be forced to cease operations as it runs low on cash and faces a difficult operating environment, just five months after emerging from bankruptcy. It may raise cash by selling aircraft, real estate or excess gate capacity. Spirit already furloughed about 270 pilots and reduced its flying schedule last month. Meanwhile, airfares rose 4% in July, their first increase in six months, according to the CPI data. Higher airfares and the prospect of less competition sent United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and other carriers soaring.
Chip Gear Maker Guides Down
Applied Materials easily beat Wall Street's targets for the June quarter, with EPS up 17% while sales climbed 8% to $7.3 billion. But it badly missed with guidance for the September quarter, predicting earnings down 9% and sales off 5%. The chip gear firm blamed an uncertain macroeconomic and policy environment, including business in China. AMAT stock dived, with peers also skidding. Meanwhile, memory-chip maker Micron Technology raised its guidance for the current quarter, sending its shares higher.
Circle Dives After Results, Offering
Circle Internet Group initially jumped on Q2 results, but slashed gains — and then sold off on a planned stock offering. The stablecoin issuer plans to offer 10 million shares, which includes 8 million shares from selling stockholders. On Tuesday, Circle reported a big loss but Q2 revenue jumped 53%, beating analyst expectations. The amount of USDC in circulation grew 90% during the quarter to $61.3 billion, picking up to $65.2 billion as of Aug. 10. Circle launched its IPO in June at 31 per share and has rallied more than 360% since launch.
Cava Dives, Brinker Hits Resistance
Cava plunged to a 15-month low after the Mediterranean fast-casual chain missed revenue and same-store sales estimates, while guiding lower on full-year comps. Q2 comparable sales grew just 2.1%, down from 14.4% growth last year. Chili's owner Brinker International topped estimates with a 55% profit jump on 21% revenue growth. Chili's saw a strong quarter, as comps swelled nearly 24%. Brinker expects 2026 earnings of $10.20 per share at the midpoint, above views for $9.91 per share. The company expects full-year revenue to grow about 5%, slightly above estimates.
Defense Firms Bounce
Elbit Systems reported a 53% EPS jump as revenue grew 21%, both beating. The Israeli firm noted a "material increase" in demand due to Mideast conflicts, expecting Israel's Defense Ministry to generate additional orders. Elbit also announced it was awarded a five-year, $1.64 billion contract with an unnamed European country. ESLT stock popped on earnings, rising modestly for the week, near a buy point. Mercury Systems gapped up to a three-year high.
Sales Growth Still A Rising Tide For Sea
Sea Ltd. posted strong second-quarter results, keeping a rally rolling for shares of the operator of Shopee, Southeast Asia's largest e-commerce website. Sales increased 38% to $5.26 billion, the best gain since early 2022. Earnings increased 364%. Singapore-based Sea's U.S.-listed shares jumped 19% on Wednesday and have more than doubled over the past year.
Chinese Online Giants Mixed
WeChat parent Tencent jumped to a new high after posting a Q2 earning beat. Sales growth accelerated for a second straight quarter to 16%, which the China tech giant credited to popular gaming releases and new AI tools that are boosting its advertising sales.
China e-commerce giant JD.com grew sales 22% for its June quarter, its strongest revenue growth in years. But shares fell and profit nearly halved as JD invests in growing an on-demand meal delivery service, a fiercely competitive field.
Meanwhile, short-messaging service Weibo broke out after a seven-year slide on its earnings.
Coherent Plunges, Pulls Down Peer
Optical networking firms Coherent and Lumentum posted June-quarter reports with differing Wall Street reactions. Coherent stock plunged nearly 20% after it delivered roughly in-line results for its fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30 along with disappointing guidance. Lumentum stock rose slightly after its better-than-expected fiscal Q4 report and outlook before falling a day later after Coherent's report. Lumentum's earnings surged 777% year over year on an absolute value basis to 88 cents a share while sales increased 56% to $480.7 million. Its sales were boosted by heightened AI data center spending. Meanwhile, Coherent's data center revenue growth is decelerating, based on its guidance for the September quarter, analysts said.
Stock Market News In Brief
Cardinal Health reported a 13% EPS gain, beating Q4 views and with growth picking up for a second straight quarter. The drug and medical products distributor guided up on fiscal 2026 earnings. But a 0.5% sales gain fell short. Cardinal Health also will buy Solaris Health, a urology-focused health care management services company, for $1.9 billion. Shares tumbled, but did come off lows.
Tapestry reported slightly better-than-expected fiscal Q4 results and hiked its dividend 14%. EPS grew 13% and revenue 8%. But the luxury-brand parent guided low on fiscal 2026 earnings due to a tariff impact. Shares plunged.
Bullish vaulted after its IPO began trading Wednesday on the NYSE. Shares of the Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange and owner of CoinDesk opened at 90 per share, far above the IPO price of 37. BLSH stock soared to a high of 118, before closing at 68. Cathie Wood's ARK Invest purchased more than 2.5 million shares on Wednesday.
Life360 surged after crushing Q2 estimates and raising its full-year outlook. In Q2, the family safety and connection company earned an adjusted 26 cents a share, up from 1-cent EPS a year earlier, on sales of $115.4 million, up 36%.
Sandisk beat estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter, while guiding higher for sales. But the memory chip company guided low on earnings. Shares tumbled Friday.
