markets

7/30/25

Meme stocks just suffered their biggest drop since the stock market bottomed

Call it a case of meme reversion.

A basket of 20 stocks compiled by UBS that “gained popularity via online networks and social media platforms” — in other words, meme stocks — tumbled 5.4% on Tuesday, its biggest one-day drop since April 8, the 2025 closing low for the S&P 500 so far.

The worst performers in the basket were Tilray, Opendoor Technologies, Kohl’s, and GoPro — all of which had seen booms the prior week amid heavy options activity and little news, telltale signs of a retail, flow-driven, meme stock ascendance.

On Tuesday, Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick observed “a relative return to normalcy” for trading activity on the platform, with less love for some of the most speculative stocks that had previously been soaring.

Cheers to the folks at Renaissance Macro who flagged the slump in meme stocks, tweeting, “Broader implication for $SPX, probably more in factors than market, but notable.”

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Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa

Bulls on parade

Three major US stock indexes post record closing highs on the same day for the first time since November 2021

Tech was far and away the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, while consumer staples was at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Bull by the horns

Nvidia Intel deal implications, according to Wall Street analysts

Wall Street analysts think through the Nvidia-Intel deal

TL;DR: Huge for Intel, helpful for Nvidia, and potentially bad for AMD.

Matt Phillips7h

markets

8h

Abercrombie & Fitch gets a lift after BTIG kicks off coverage with a “buy” rating

Abercrombie & Fitch popped over 3% Thursday afternoon after BTIG initiated coverage on the stock with a “buy” rating and set a $120 price target. That’s more than 35% above current trading levels.

“While we acknowledge headwinds from a selective consumer and tough comparisons, we have confidence in A&F’s ability to return to growth as AUR [average unit retail] headwinds abate at Abercrombie, a factor well within the company’s control, while traffic and brand health remain strong,” the firm wrote in the note.

BTIG also highlighted the retailer’s California-based Hollister brand, where growth is continuing to ramp up, and that cleaner inventory management is helping the retailer avoid big markdowns. Analysts also noted that Abercrombie still trades at a discount to its peers, making the upside more compelling.

The call comes on the heels of Abercrombie’s stronger-than-expected Q2 results last month, which featured record quarterly sales and marked its 11th straight quarter of growth.

A&F shares are down 41% year to date.

markets

11h

Analyst spotlights oil refiners’ outperformance

Major US oil refiners like Valero, Marathon Petroleum, and Phillips 66 are outperforming more than 90% of the S&P 500 this year, as a surge in global supply from OPEC+ — essentially a price-setting alliance between OPEC and Russia — has put refiners in the catbird seat when it comes to price negotiations with producers.

“We continue to assess that refiners will set the price of crude and refiners will win in a wide range of scenarios for crude, making refiners the best vehicle for long petroleum exposure,” wrote Colin Fenton, head of commodities research at 22V Research.

Crack spreads, a measure of profit margins at refiners, have risen nearly 50% so far this year.

Olive Garden parent company Darden dips after serving up a Q1 earnings miss

The restaurant giant saw strong comps, but is facing higher costs and more price-conscious consumers.

Olive Garden Italian Kitchen. Olive Garden is a division of Darden Restaurants.

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