(Marcos del Mazo/Getty Images)

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

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

8/11/25 4:36PM

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.

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Hardware stocks jump thanks to server demand and record Lenovo revenue

Server stocks are rallying as Dell, Super Micro Computer, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise ride the momentum of Hong Kong-based Lenovo. The PC-maker's stock rose 19% on Friday, hitting an all-time high, on record Q4 earnings.

Powering the positive earnings report was the company's AI-related revenue, which grew 84% in the fourth quarter and now makes up for over a third of total revenue. Investors seem to think the increased demand for servers could have trickle-down effects to other companies.

"The company's results and commentary reinforced the outlook for strong AI-infrastructure demand while indicating resilient broader traditional server and storage spending," wrote Bloomberg Intelligence senior technology analyst Woo Jin Ho. "Lenovo's $21 billion AI-server pipeline and remarks that demand is outpacing supply support Dell's AI-demand momentum and point to robust orders."

AI's insatiable computing demand is reshaping the hardware industry and driving up server demand.

Dell will report first quarter earnings Thursday, May 28.

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Take-Two issued a 2027 net bookings forecast about $1 billion below Wall Street’s estimates. The stock is falling on Friday.

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The D-Wave 2X quantum system, is operated at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., as seen on Tuesday December 8, 2015.

Quantum computing CEOs hope “validating” government backing proves their technology is no longer speculative

The government funding is a push to boost the foundational elements of quantum computing to get the industry ready for prime time. The CEOs of Infleqtion and D-Wave give us their thoughts.

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Ross Stores surges as Q1 results beat expectations, full-year guidance raised

Ross shares are rising after the company delivered strong Q1 results, with sales topping Wall Street’s projections.

The stock soared 6.3% just after the open.

Key numbers:

Earnings per share of $2.02 vs. $1.47 year over year (estimate: $1.72).
Sales of $6.01 billion, up 21% year over year (estimate: $5.61 billion).
Comparable sales growth of 17% (estimate: 8.58%).

CEO Jim Conroy attributed the results to better traffic in stores. “Customer traffic was the primary driver of the strong sales trend as compelling merchandise assortments, higher customer acquisition and engagement from our ongoing marketing initiatives, and an improved in‑store experience are resonating with shoppers.”

The company also noted that transaction volume grew across all key demographics, including “income levels, ethnicities, and age groups, including younger customers.” Sales were also likely buoyed by standard seasonal tailwinds, including consumer spending from tax refunds.

Backed by the strong quarter, the company lifted its full-year targets. Ross now projects same-store sales growth of 6% to 7%, up from the prior forecast of 3% to 4%, topping Wall Street’s estimate of 4.64%. It boosted its annual EPS guidance to a range of $7.50 to $7.74, versus the prior outlook of $7.02 to $7.36.

Ross Stores has been one of the retail sector’s standout performers this year, rising around 20% year to date as of Thursday’s close.

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Imax surges on report it’s approached entertainment companies for a sale

Imax is on pace for its best trading day since 2021 following a Wall Street Journal report that it’s exploring a sale. Shares are up more than 15% in premarket trading on Friday.

The premium screen company has reportedly approached entertainment companies for a deal, though talks are early and may not come to fruition. Imax has been boosted in recent years by its higher ticket prices — a K-shaped trend in movie theaters — and last year accounted for more than 5% of domestic box office sales.

Theatrical release windows have become a large debate in Hollywood this year, amid the bidding war between Paramount and Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s unclear if an entertainment buyer would favor its own films for Imax over a rival’s.

In the first quarter, Imax booked $81.4 million in sales, beating Wall Street expectations but down about 6.5% from last year, when China’s “Ne Zha 2” smashed records.