Your Evening Briefing

August 11, 2025

US stocks dip as traders take risk off the table ahead of inflation report

US stocks ended Monday near session lows as traders scaled back risk ahead of inflation data due out Tuesday morning.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, the Nasdaq 100 gave back 0.4%, and the Russell 2000 declined 0.1%.

Energy and tech were the two worst-performing S&P 500 sector ETFs, while communication services and consumer discretionary stocks posted solid gains on the day.

News out of CNBC that the US-China trade truce has been formally extended for another 90 days did little to move markets, as this outcome had been well telegraphed in advance.

Tesla was far and away the best performer among the Magnificent 7 cohort after CEO Elon Musk said the company’s robotaxi offering would be publicly available next month. GM also rose on reports that it was getting back into the autonomous vehicles game.
Nvidia and AMD were little changed on news that they had received export licenses to send AI chips to China once again in exchange for sending 15% of revenues generated from those processors to the US government.
Micron rallied as management told the world that it’s doing way better than anticipated this quarter, boosting its revenue and adjusted earnings-per-share guidance to levels above what any Wall Street analyst had been forecasting.
Weed stocks like Tilray, Cronos Group, Canopy Growth, and SNDL soared after The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump is considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
Paramount Skydance struck a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal for the US streaming and broadcast rights for UFC, sending its shares lower and those of UFC owner TKO up double digits, the best advance of any S&P 500 component on Monday.
Retail darling SoundHound AI’s hot run following earnings continued, with shares surging amid a bevy of bullish options bets.
Elsewhere in retail favorites, AMC rose after the theater chain reported better-than-expected second-quarter results that included a 150% year-on-year rise in adjusted EBITDA.
e.l.f. Beauty jumped after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating to “buy” and raised its price target following last week’s earnings results.
Clover Health popped double digits on news that its cofounder bought nearly $1 million in company stock.

— Luke Kawa, Markets Editor

The stock market’s “flight to crap” faces a big test this week

Analysts say continued outperformance of “low-quality” stocks may depend the July inflation report due tomorrow. Read more.

America’s fast-food scene had some big winners, and even bigger losers, in Q2 2025

Taco Bell is beating Chipotle, Dutch Bros is crushing Starbucks, and the chicken wars are fiercer than ever.

Read more.

POST-MARKET MOVE

Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power,
(Tom Williams/Getty Images)

Plug Power falls after posting mixed second-quarter results

Plug Power is trading lower in the after-hours session after reporting second-quarter results that were a mixed bag.

Read more.

Everyone thinks stocks are overvalued and no one cares
To quote Wayne Knight’s character in Jurassic Park: “See? Nobody cares.”
Tesla applies to launch electricity supplier “Tesla Electric” in Great Britain
The company runs Tesla Energy in the US.
Apple remains a relentless buyback machine
American companies are set to spend $1.1 trillion on buying back their own shares this year — no company will spend more than Apple.
What does the end of the $7,500 federal tax credit mean for Tesla’s finances?
Analyst Troy Teslike estimates what will happen to Tesla’s top and bottom lines in several different scenarios.
Archer Aviation posts Q2 loss, but it builds up its cash pile
The air taxi/military aircraft builder reported earnings after the bell today.
Ford’s EV “Model T” moment starts with a $30,000 midsize truck
Ford will build multiple low-cost EVs at its Louisville assembly plant through a new production process.
The first real quarter of tariff impact took a major bite out of automakers’ bottom lines
Even with some trade deals on the books, new car prices are expected to rise in the coming months.
AOL is finally shutting down its dial-up internet service after 34 years
The company said it’ll be discontinued at the end of September.
Amazon and Apple are struggling with their AI voice assistants
Two separate pieces on the AI assistants suggest good versions are a ways off.
OpenAI backtracks on plan to mothball old AI models after user outcry
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spent the weekend on social media trying to quell an uproar from dedicated users.
“Weapons” debut helps horror creep toward a record share of the US box office
The new mystery horror took an impressive $42.5 million domestically over the weekend, marking another big box office win for the genre.

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US stocks dip as traders take risk off the table ahead of inflation report

"The Wrap | Your Evening Briefing" <thewrap@sherwoodmedia.com>

August 11, 8:51 pm

POST-MARKET MOVE