S&P 500 – 7,785.76 (-0.17%)

Dow Jones – 53,732.41 (-0.20%)

NASDAQ – 26,729.16 (-0.28%)

• Consumer Takes a Hit: Retail sales fell 0.6% in July, sharply missing expectations for a 0.1% gain, while the University of Michigan’s preliminary Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 51.0 from 55.2 in July. The reading remains well below its long-term average of roughly 84, raising fresh concerns about the strength of the U.S. consumer.
• Bulls Keep the Momentum: Despite Friday’s pullback, the S&P 500 finished the week higher, marking its third consecutive weekly gain and keeping the broader market rally alive.
• Bond Yields Push Higher: Treasury yields climbed, particularly at the long end of the curve, with the 10-year yield approaching 4.7% and the 30-year yield reaching approximately 5.26%.
• Inflation Expectations Tick Up: Consumers became slightly more concerned about inflation, with one-year expectations rising to 4.3% from 4.2%, while five- to 10-year expectations held steady at 3.3%.
• Inflation Gives Wall Street Some Breathing Room: July CPI offered some relief, with headline inflation rising just 0.1% for the month and 3.4% year over year. Core CPI increased 0.2% in July and 2.5% from a year earlier, adding to hopes that price pressures are cooling.
• Wholesale Prices Stay Cool: Producer prices provided another positive signal, with headline PPI unchanged in July and core PPI rising just 0.2%, below expectations.
• AMAT Gets Punished Despite Strong Numbers: Applied Materials (AMAT) fell despite beating earnings estimates and delivering stronger-than-expected guidance, with investors apparently focusing on a $220 million unrealized investment loss recorded during the quarter.
• Reddit Gets Its S&P 500 Moment: Reddit (RDDT) surged after the company was selected to join the S&P 500 next week, giving the social media stock another major catalyst.
• Sandisk Rides the AI Wave: Sandisk (SNDK) jumped after JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating, citing the company’s strong positioning to benefit from soaring NAND demand driven by AI inference.
• Wayfair Gets a Wall Street Boost: Wayfair (W) gained after Bernstein upgraded the stock to Outperform, pointing to strong revenue performance and continued cost discipline.
• Workday Goes Wild: Workday (WDAY) exploded nearly 18% after Reuters reported the software company is in discussions to be acquired by private-equity giant Silver Lake.
• Buffett Goes BIG on Google: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway boosted its Alphabet stake by 83%, signaling growing conviction in Google’s AI opportunity and making Alphabet one of Berkshire’s largest U.S. holdings.
• Anthropic’s AI Revenue is Exploding: Anthropic reported preliminary second-quarter revenue of more than $11.5 billion, more than 14 times its year-ago figure, putting the Claude maker firmly in the middle of the AI arms race.
• AI’s Memory Problem is Becoming a HUGE Opportunity: Sandisk is riding the AI infrastructure boom as Wall Street bets that surging demand for memory and storage will fuel another major leg of growth.
• The Consumer is Feeling the Heat: Rising inflation expectations and weaker retail sales are putting fresh pressure on U.S. households and raising questions about whether consumer spending can maintain its momentum.
• Volatility is Nowhere to Be Found: The VIX fell to a new 2026 low below 14.4 and remained near those levels at 14.52, showing that investors continue to have relatively little demand for downside protection.
• Bezos Makes a Billion-Dollar Sports Bet: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is expanding his investment empire into elite sports after joining a billionaire-backed consortium that acquired roughly 30% of Liverpool FC at a valuation of approximately $6 billion.

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“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” — Warren Buffett

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Notable Stocks

• Intel Corp. (INTC)
• Nvidia (NVDA)
• Reddit (RDDT)
• Sandisk (SNDK)
• Workday (WDAY)

Weekly Notables

Anthropic Revenue Explodes Past $11.5 Billion

Anthropic is seeing explosive growth as demand for AI surges, with the Claude maker reporting more than $11.5 billion in second-quarter revenue—more than 14 times its revenue from the same period last year. According to documents reviewed by Bloomberg, Anthropic generated preliminary Q2 revenue of more than $11.5 billion, compared with $787 million a year earlier and $4.73 billion in the first quarter of 2026. The company also posted positive adjusted operating income for the quarter.

Sandisk Stock Surges as Wall Street Bets on AI-Driven Memory Boom

Sandisk (SNDK) jumped on Friday after Wall Street rallied behind the flash-memory maker’s bullish long-term outlook, extending a 13% gain from the previous session. The enthusiasm followed Sandisk’s investor day, where the company laid out ambitious targets for 2028 through 2030. Sandisk expects annual revenue growth in the mid-to-high teens and sees non-GAAP gross margins reaching approximately 80%.

Earnings Spotlight: Target (TGT)

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is scheduled to release its second-quarter fiscal 2026 financial results on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, before the market opens. Wall Street consensus estimates project earnings of approximately $2.24 to $2.25 per share on expected quarterly revenues of around $26.06 billion.

What to Watch Ahead:

August 17: No major earnings or data expected.
August 18: July housing starts and building permits, July industrial production, and expected earnings from Home Depot (HD), Baidu (BIDU), and Toll Brothers (TOL).
August 19: FOMC minutes and expected earnings from Analog Devices (ADI), TJX Companies (TJX), Lowe's (LOW), Target (TGT), and Estee Lauder (EL).
August 20: Conference Board Leading Indicators for July and expected earnings from Walmart (WMT), Alibaba (BABA), Deere (DE), NetEase (NTES), and Ross Stores (ROST).