Evening Market Recap

Sophia Reyes · August 28, 2025 7:13 PM

Market Snapshot for Thursday August 28^th, 2025

S&P 500 – 6,501.86 (+0.32%)

Dow Jones – 45,636.90 (+0.16%)

NASDAQ – 21,705.16 (+0.53%)

Market Performance

S&P 500 Hits Record as Nvidia Fuels AI Momentum

The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Thursday, lifted by optimism around Nvidia’s blockbuster earnings. The index rose 0.32% to 6,501.86, topping the 6,500 mark for the first time. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.53% to 21,705.16, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 71.67 points, or 0.16%, to 45,636.90, also a record.

With the S&P 500 and Dow at record highs and AI optimism intact, September’s historically weak seasonality may not matter. As LPL’s Adam Turnquist put it: “The weather for the S&P 500 is filled with blue skies and record highs.”

Economic Takeaways –

• Outside tech, sentiment was buoyed by a stronger-than-expected GDP reading of 3.3% annualized growth in Q2, beating both initial and economist estimates.
• CME FedWatch data shows an 87% chance of a quarter-point cut next month.
• Initial filings for unemployment insurance moved lower last week as employers remained reluctant to part with workers, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Jobless claims totaled a seasonally adjusted 229,000 for the week ending Aug. 23, nearly in line with the Dow Jones estimate and down 5,000 from the previous period.

Gold –

• Gold prices hit a five-week high on Thursday, supported by a softer dollar and safe-haven flows, due to ongoing concerns over the Federal Reserve’s independence.
• Spot gold rose 0.6% to $3,416.14 per ounce at 0147 p.m. ET (1747 GMT), hitting its highest level since July 23.
• S. gold futures for December delivery settled at $3,466.10.

Oil –

• Oil prices settled higher on Thursday, bouncing off early losses after the White House said U.S. President Donald Trump was not happy when he learned that Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight.
• Brent crude futures settled up 57 cents, or 0.8%, at $68.62 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 45 cents, or 0.7%, to close at $64.60 a barrel.

Crypto –

• The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a US financial regulator, announced on Thursday that offshore crypto exchanges now have a pathway to legally serve US-based clients by registering under the Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT) framework.
• Gryphon Digital Mining (GRYP) popped 10% in premarket Thursday after word spread it’s merging with American Bitcoin, a mining firm backed by President Donald Trump’s sons.

Nvidia Beats on Earnings, Fuels AI Rally — But China Looms as Long-Term Risk

Nvidia, now accounting for nearly 8% of the S&P 500, reported second-quarter revenue growth of 56%, surpassing Wall Street estimates. While results impressed, two sticking points emerged: data center revenue came in slightly shy of expectations, and third-quarter guidance of $54 billion was only marginally above analysts’ $53.1 billion forecast. Shares, after an early pop, slipped 0.8% on the day.

Traders noted Nvidia’s outlook excluded any potential sales of its H20 chips to China. Analysts suggested that if the Trump administration can strike a deal allowing those exports, Nvidia’s revenue could outperform. “The core growth outside of China was really good,” said Ben Reitzes of Melius Research. “There should be more great growth in the fourth quarter—so we’re all systems go.”

Despite lingering questions, Wall Street turned more bullish: JPMorgan, Citi, and Bernstein all raised price targets. Other chipmakers rallied, with Broadcom up 2.8% and Micron gaining 3.6%. AI enthusiasm spread beyond semis, sending Snowflake surging 20% after a strong earnings report.

Still, some warn of long-term risks. Dan Niles of Niles Management argued that China may ultimately reduce reliance on U.S. chips, pointing to Huawei’s comeback with domestic components. “Right now, it’s all upside,” Niles said. “But eventually, the glass half full could turn the other way.”

CoreWeave Shares Surge on Nvidia’s AI Momentum

CoreWeave stock jumped more than 6% Thursday, riding the wave of Nvidia’s latest earnings report, which reinforced surging global demand for AI infrastructure.

On Wednesday’s call, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress highlighted the rapid adoption of the company’s new Blackwell Ultra GB300 GPU, calling the transition “seamless” for major cloud providers thanks to its shared architecture with prior systems. The GB300 already generated tens of billions in revenue last quarter, with adoption expected to accelerate in Q3.

CoreWeave, Nvidia’s close partner, supplies and operates hundreds of thousands of Nvidia GPUs across its data centers, making it the largest publicly traded neocloud company by market cap. According to Kress, CoreWeave is preparing to launch its GB300 instance later this year, which has already demonstrated 10x greater inference performance on reasoning models compared to the H100.

She added that the GB300 NVL72 “AI factories” deliver a 10x improvement in energy efficiency (tokens per watt) versus the previous Hopper generation—an edge that could translate directly into higher revenues as data centers face power constraints.

Fed May Not Need a September Cut, Says Globalt’s Thomas Martin

Despite markets widely expecting the Federal Reserve to lower rates in September, Globalt Investments’ Thomas Martin isn’t convinced it’s necessary.

“I’m not sure we need to cut at all,” the senior portfolio manager told CNBC, citing lingering inflation and a labor market that remains strong. Martin added that with President Donald Trump’s tariffs still playing out, the Fed has the “luxury of giving it more time.”

He acknowledged that one cut might not do much harm, but cautioned against starting a cycle of reductions too quickly.

Top Gainers

Several stocks experienced significant gains. Some of the top gainers included:

Pure Storage, Inc. (PSTG) +32.34%

Snowflake, Inc. (SNOW) +20.27%

BILL Holdings, Inc. (BILL) +18.18%

Trip.com Group (TCOM) +14.92%

UP Fintech Holdings (TIGR) +10.72%

Top Losers

The top US stock losers today, based on percentage change included:

Accelerant Holdings (ARX) -26.36%

Telix Pharmaceuticals (TLX) -16.12%

Harmony Gold Mining Company (HMY) -14.04%

Hormel Foods (HRL) -13.09%

The Cooper Company (COO) -12.85%

Notables

• Ulta Beauty boosts full-year forecast following growth across all major categories.
• Dell shares drop amid softer-than-expected third-quarter earnings outlook.
• Trivariate Research recommends buying long-term stock ‘compounders’ and ignoring short-term market noise.
• Nvidia shares projected to reach $200, according to Josh Brown.
• Pure Storage stock jumps over 30% to record highs after Meta deal strengthens results and outlook.
• Nike plans to cut about 1% of corporate workforce in strategic business realignment.
• Nvidia shares slipped more than 1% after the chipmaker’s data center revenue missed estimates for a second straight quarter, even as overall earnings and revenue topped forecasts.
• Hormel plunged more than 13% to a new 52-week low after the company cut its profit outlook, citing rising commodity costs. Hormel now expects Q4 earnings of 38 to 40 cents per share, well below the 49 cents analysts anticipated, according to LSEG.
• Best Buy dropped nearly 6% despite beating quarterly estimates, as the retailer reaffirmed a cautious full-year forecast. Best Buy pointed to uncertainty around tariffs in the second half of the year and said it will cut staff to adjust to shifting consumer trends.
• Shares of Tesla fell as recent data showed that European sales continued to decline.
• Shares of business monitoring software provider Datadog earned the top performance in the benchmark index amid the latest wave of enthusiasm around AI.
• Hormel Foods shares plunged after the maker of packaged foods missed quarterly profit estimates, citing pressure from increased commodity costs.
• Agilent Technologies (A) surpassed sales and profit expectations for its fiscal third quarter, and shares of the health sciences company gained 5.3%.
• Cooper Companies (COO) lowered its revenue guidance for fiscal 2025, citing soft demand for contact lenses, and shares of the medical device maker dropped nearly 13%.

What to Watch Ahead

All eyes now turn to Friday’s PCE inflation report, forecast to show 0.2% monthly and 2.6% annual increases—a key gauge for the Fed’s next move on rates.