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US stocks stumble as AI trade takes a hit

Friday’s drop pushed the S&P 500 marginally into negative territory for the week.

8/29/25 4:56PM

US stocks slumped into the long weekend, with the S&P 500 ending August with its biggest daily decline since the first trading day of the month.

Even so, the drop of 0.6% barely pulled the benchmark US stock index into the red for the week. The Nasdaq 100 fared worse on Friday, falling 1.2%, while the Russell 2000 gave back 0.5%.

Tech and consumer discretionary were the worst-performing S&P 500 sector ETFs, while the beaten-up defensive pockets of the market like healthcare and consumer staples caught a bid to end the week.

Autodesk was one of the session’s bright spots, up 9.1% after the maker of design software posted a beat-and-raise earnings report after Thursday’s close. Meanwhile, Dell led declines, falling 8.9% after the tech hardware company topped Q2 estimates but issued soft guidance for Q3. Elsewhere...

Marvell Technology fell 18.6% after posting lower-than-expected data center results and a weak Q3 forecast. Meanwhile, hyperscaler Oracle also fell 5.9% amid a broader pullback for the AI trade, fueled in part by Marvell’s weak outlook.

Nvidia shares fell 3.3% following a Wall Street Journal report that Alibaba was developing an AI chip to be manufactured in China.

Super Micro Computer fell 5.5% after the AI server maker warned it still hasn’t fully fixed the accounting issues that nearly got it delisted from the Nasdaq back in February.

Alibaba rose 12.9% after the Chinese e-commerce giant missed Q1 earnings and revenue expectations but beat estimates for its all-important cloud and AI segment.

Petco shares surged 23.5% as traders applauded the pet store chain’s strong second-quarter results and improved full-year EBITDA guidance, which were released after the bell on Thursday.

Affirm shares leapt 10.6% after the buy now, pay later giant posted a Q4 earnings beat and issued a stronger-than-expected forecast for its key gross merchandise volume (GMV) metric.

Celsius shares jumped 5.3%, hitting a 52-week high, after Pepsi hiked its stake in the energy drink maker to 11% in a $585 million deal. Pepsi shares rose 1.1% on the news.

Opendoor shares climbed 4.2% after CEO Shrisha Radhakrishna purchased 30,000 shares of company stock.

Ulta Beauty shares were up as much as 3.7% in early trading before closing down 7.1%, even as the beauty juggernaut posted a strong Q2 and raised its full-year outlook.

Lucid shares slid 4.4%, hitting a record low, after Stifel slashed its price target by 30% to $2.10 from $3. The luxury EV maker is also bracing for a 1-for-10 reverse stock split next week.

Duolingo shares dropped 7.7% as the language-learning company (and retail favorite) slipped into a sudden reversal in the momentum trade that has dominated the market bounce since mid-April.

Tasha Matsumoto, Matt Phillips

4/17/26

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 close at record highs again as Strait of Hormuz is declared open

Stocks reached new record highs as risk-on sentiment flooded back into the markets, while oil tumbled.

Chicago Bulls players Dennis Rodman (L), Scottie Pippen (C) and Michael Jordan (R) hold three of the team's four recent Larry O'Brien trophies 18 June at a rally for the team in Grant Park in Chicago.

Matt Phillips4/17/26

With their recent surge, Intel shares just hit their highest level since the dot-com era

Intel’s surge of nearly 60% this month has the iconic American chipmaker’s stock price approaching levels last seen during the dot-com era. Bloomberg noted that shares just touched their highest intraday level since the turn of the century:

“The stock rose as much as 1.5% to $69.55, topping a peak it hit on Jan. 24, 2020. The shares are up 90% this year, after soaring 84% in 2025. Intel is now roughly 8% from its all-time closing high of $74.88, established on Aug. 31, 2000.”

That’s just the most recent late-’90s-era throwback we’ve been seeing in tech shares lately. Oracle is currently pacing for its best week since late 1999.

What’s even more remarkable, however, is that Intel’s forward price-to-earnings ratio today dwarfs the premiums the market was putting on the stock during the nuttiness of the dot-com mania.

That reflects the fact that the recent run-up in Intel shares is, essentially, giving the chip giant credit for a massive turnaround that hasn’t actually happened yet.

One also might wonder if the fact that Intel is partially owned by the US government means it’s more attractive — and therefore worth a higher premium — than other chipmakers without the state imprimatur.

Still, kind of startling.

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Netflix sinks following disappointing outlook as investors wait for more ad growth

Netflix shares are down more than 10% on Friday morning.

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J. Edward Moreno4/17/26

Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 pill hit nearly 1,400 prescriptions in first week

Eli Lilly rose after preliminary numbers cited by Wall Street analysts showed strong uptake of its new weight-loss pill.

The FDA approved Foundayo on April 1 and shipments began on April 9. In its first week, roughly 1,400 US prescriptions were written for the drug, according to IQVIA data cited by Deustche Bank analysts in a Friday note.

Novo Nordisk, Lilly’s rival in the GLP-1 market, released its GLP-1 pill earlier this year, and early signs show that it’s expanding the market, inviting patients who were turned off by weekly injections. Novo’s pill had a stronger first week than Lilly’s, with its Wegovy pill hitting 3,071 US prescriptions in the first four days after its launch on January 5.

Lilly’s pill has an advantage over Novo’s, which is that it can be taken at any time of day, with or without food. Lilly disclosed in a February regulatory filing that it had $1.5 billion worth of prelaunch inventory ready ahead of the FDA approval — which is about as much as analysts polled by FactSet expect it to sell this year.

Eli Lilly makes the world’s bestselling drug. Can it keep the party going?

Claire Yubin Oh4/17/26

Critical Metals jumps after Greenland’s government approves CRML to take majority control of the Tanbreez mining project

Critical Metals is up more than 25% in premarket trading on Friday after the critical mining company announced that it now owns 92.5% of the Tanbreez rare earth deposit following an approval from the government of Greenland.

With that latest government support, Critical Minerals added an additional 50.5% stake to its ownership, reportedly acquired from Rimbal Pty Ltd, per Bloomberg News. With access to eight heavy rare earth elements often used in consumer electronics and defense, the site is one of the world’s largest undeveloped rare earth deposits and a key source of rare earth supply outside of China, according to the company.

In Critical Metals’ press release, Chairman Tony Sage commented that the approval “removes the most significant structural overhang on the project and provides the clarity to advance Tanbreez to production with confidence,” especially as Tanbreez’s location offers a significant logistical advantage through its year-round direct shipping access, compared to rival projects.

With 92.5% of the project now vested in Critical Metals Corp., and the remainder owned by European Lithium Ltd., CRML now has full control of the project and is seeking to accelerate development there, with plans for a new international airport and a “150-tonne bulk sample program,” which is slated for June 2026.