Markets
Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa
8/6/25

US stocks power higher on Apple’s US investment plans, solid corporate earnings

Tuesday’s drop was just another opportunity to buy the dip.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and the Nasdaq 100 outperformed with a 1.3% advance, while the Russell 2000 once again bucked the trend, dropping 0.2%.

The day got off to a strong start when the White House touted an additional $100 billion in domestic investment from Apple ahead of the market open, which fueled the iPhone maker’s 5% rise on Wednesday.

The S&P sector ETFs for consumer discretionary, consumer staples, and tech all rose at least 1%. On the other side of the spectrum, materials and healthcare were down more than 1%.

Gains were led by Arista Networks, which rose 17% after delivering stellar earnings after the close on Tuesday and enjoyed a host of price target hikes across Wall Street thereafter. Declines were led in part by AMD, which fell 6% after the chip company delivered a modest bottom-line miss and a big beat on sales for the second quarter.

Elsewhere…

Shopify soared 22% after the e-commerce giant missed Q2 revenue estimates but said it expects revenue to grow at a mid- to high 20s percentage rate.

Match Group rose double digits after the Tinder and Hinge parent topped analysts’ revenue estimates after the bell Tuesday and told Wall Street to expect more of the same in Q3.

McDonald’s rose nearly 3% after the Big Mac maker posted a US sales rebound in the second quarter — a comeback after a rough start to the year.

IonQ finished virtually flat ahead of earnings tech juggernaut Amazon reporting that it held 854,207 shares of the quantum computing stock at the end of Q2.

Power producer and energy trader NRG dove double digits after adjusted earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations and GAAP results swung to a surprise loss.

Disney shares fell 2.7% even as the media giant beat Q3 estimates, raised its full-year outlook, and reportedly struck a $1.6 billion streaming deal between ESPN and WWE. Shares of TKO, which owns WWE, dropped 5%.

Astera Labs surged nearly 30% after the chips, boards, and integrated circuit maker delivered strong top- and bottom-line Q2 results after the bell Tuesday.

Uber closed flat even after the ride-hailing giant posted upbeat second-quarter results and unveiled a beefy new stock buyback plan.

Shares of Super Micro Computer tumbled 18% after disappointing fourth-quarter results, which saw the server company whiff on sales and earnings.

Rivian shares dipped 4% after the EV maker topped revenue estimates for the second quarter but losses came in higher than expected. Meanwhile, Lucid shares fell 10% after the luxury EV maker also saw Q2 losses pile up.

Snap’s stock plunged 17% after the social media company narrowly missed earnings expectations and ad revenue slowed.

Oscar Health managed to rise almost 4% despite the health insurance company reporting earnings that missed estimates, even after giving investors a look under the hood last month.

Novo Nordisk slipped nearly 4% after it reported growing sales of its blockbuster GLP-1 drugs but reiterated that knockoffs were eating at its weight-loss business.

More Markets

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Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa
4h
S&P 500 closes at record as tech heavyweights flex (besides Apple)

The Magnificent 7 did the heavy lifting, performing better than any S&P 500 sector ETF on Tuesday.

Bull by the horns
markets
Matt Phillips
4h

Oracle rips as backlog builds, but company misses on top and bottom lines

Oracle shares shot higher after-hours as the company reported a growing backlog, even though its fiscal Q1 results fell slightly short of expectations. The company reported:

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $1.47 vs. expectations of $1.48.

  • Revenue of $14.93 billion vs. expectations of $15.04 billion.

Shares were up 21% in after-hours trading, which is a pretty crazy stock move for a company with a market cap of more than $675 billion.

The market was likely impressed by a giant build in the company’s “remaining performance obligations,” or RPO, which is how the company measures the value of signed cloud computing deals that haven’t yet been reported as revenue. In a statement, CEO Safra Catz said: 

“We signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers in Q1. This resulted in RPO contract backlog increasing 359% to $455 billion. It was an astonishing quarter — and demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure continues to build. Over the next few months, we expect to sign-up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers and RPO is likely to exceed half-a-trillion dollars.”

Oracle Announces Fiscal Year 2026 First Quarter Financial Results

Oracle Announces Fiscal Year 2026 First Quarter Financial Results

The market was likely impressed by a giant build in the company’s “remaining performance obligations,” or RPO, which is how the company measures the value of signed cloud computing deals that haven’t yet been reported as revenue. In a statement, CEO Safra Catz said: 

“We signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers in Q1. This resulted in RPO contract backlog increasing 359% to $455 billion. It was an astonishing quarter — and demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure continues to build. Over the next few months, we expect to sign-up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers and RPO is likely to exceed half-a-trillion dollars.”

markets
Matt Phillips
5h

Robinhood rides index inclusion rally to record close

Robinhood Markets notched a new closing high Tuesday, as the crypto, stock, and options brokerage continued to ride a rally set off by the announcement that it would be added to the S&P 500 Index.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

Robinhood appears to be benefiting from the so-called inclusion effect, a market phenomenon where companies that are added to major market indexes can see a price move as index funds — whose holdings must mirror the membership of the index — rush to buy the stock.

For what it’s worth, it seems like Robinhood will upon entry (effective prior to the market open on September 22) be the top-performing member of the index, as its roughly 220% gain this year is more or less double that of the current leader, Seagate Technology Holdings.

markets
Luke Kawa
5h

GameStop posts impressive Q2 results with big sales beat

Don’t call it a comeback!

GameStop is jumping aftermarket as the video games and collectibles retailer posted an impressive set of second-quarter results.

  • Net sales: $972 million (estimate $823 million).

  • Adjusted diluted earnings per share: $0.25 (estimate $0.16).

Note: these consensus estimates, compiled by Bloomberg, are from only two analysts.

The sales beat is particularly noteworthy, as the company had already done an exemplary job of expense control to help protect its bottom line. Revenues were up more than 20% versus the year-ago quarter, the biggest annual jump in sales since the company (and the world) was emerging from the pandemic in 2021.

The options market implies a move of plus or minus about 9.4% on earnings.

For a while, GameStop’s ability to generate positive net income was purely a function of the interest earnings on its substantial cash hoard. But now, GameStop has strung together five consecutive quarters of positive operating cash flows for the first time in its history!

This was the quarter when the company began to act on its bitcoin treasury strategy, raising money through the sale of convertible notes and using some proceeds to purchase the crypto asset.

Because of how much market value has been ascribed to potential for GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen to use its significant cash holdings to transform the company, the prospect of converting cash into bitcoin initially did not sit too well with investors following the announcement of this new strategic push in March.

Shares of the once-upon-a-time meme stock really didn’t get too much love during retail frenzies earlier in the summer, and were down about 25% year to date heading into this release.

As of the close of the quarter, its bitcoin holdings were valued at $528.6 million.

Western Digital Seagate Technology Rise to top of S&P 500

Data storage is so hot right now

A rapid turnaround in profitability helps explain how Seagate Technology and Western Digital have clawed to the top of the S&P 500 this year.

Matt Phillips7h

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