Yiwen Lu8/30/24

US stocks jump; S&P gains for the fourth straight month

The S&P 500 closed 1% up on Friday, with Nasdaq 100 gaining 1.3%. Both indices were up in August, with the S&P scoring a fourth straight monthly gain. The Russell 2000 ticked up 0.7% on the session.

This upcoming month sees a highly anticipated Federal Reserve meeting, and Friday’s job report will offer some clues for how large the widely anticipated rate cut might be.

Treasury yields increased. The US dollar ended the month with a gain after a sharp monthly decline. Oil fell on reports the OPEC+ would begin returning some oil to market in the coming months.

All S&P 500 sector ETFs moved higher, and consumer discretionary was the best performer with a 1.5% gain.

Intel, which lost 28.3% over the past month, was the biggest gainer among S&P 500 stocks, up 9.5% on Friday. Bloomberg reported on Thursday night that Intel was considering the split of its costly foundry manufacturing business and eradicating certain projects. Shares plunged by almost 30 percent in the beginning of August on a grim earnings report.

Ulta Beauty was the worst S&P 500 performer, down 4%. The beauty retailer reported results that missed estimates after the market closed on Thursday, two weeks after the price hike from Berkshire’s investment.

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The insanity over the Starbucks “Bearista” cups tells you everything you need to know about the US economy and markets

Upper-income consumers and megacap tech companies are both a) doing well and b) supply constrained.

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Retail traders are “skipping the dip” this time

Here’s one noteworthy feature of the recent market downturn that has the S&P 500 poised for its worst week since reciprocal tariffs were announced in early April: retail traders seemingly aren’t eager to buy the weakness in single stocks the way they used to be.

JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain has flagged that retail traders instead appear to be “skipping the dip.”

“In contrast to the behavior observed during the post-Liberation Day selloff, retail investors did not seize the opportunity to buy-the-dip on Tuesday, with a few exceptions such as META,” he wrote of the day where the benchmark US stock index fell 1.2%. “In fact, they scaled back their ETF purchases and turned net sellers in single stocks.”

Then on Thursday, when the S&P 500 fell 1.1%, Jain estimated that retail traders sold $261 million in single stocks.

With that intel, it’s little wonder why the carnage this week has been particularly intense in more speculative single stocks that had been favored by the retail community, including IREN, IonQ, Rigetti, Cipher Mining, Bloom Energy, and Oklo.

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Archer Aviation plunges on $650 million share sale following its third-quarter results

Air taxi maker Archer Aviation is deep in the red on Friday morning after reporting its third-quarter results after the bell Thursday. The stock is down more than 12%.

Investors don’t appear to be thrilled about the company’s $650 million direct stock offering, announced alongside its results.

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

Archer Aviation sinks after reporting better-than-expected Q3 loss, announces it will acquire LA’s Hawthorne Airport

Archer Aviation sinks after reporting better-than-expected Q3 loss, announces it will acquire LA’s Hawthorne Airport

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

Top AI energy trade Constellation Energy slips on earnings

The largest nuclear power provider in the US has soared on the prospect of relentless demand from data centers.

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