Early Look

Monday, August 11, 2025

U.S. futures are looking higher after strong returns for major averages last week as the Nasdaq 100 and Magnificent 7 Index closed at all-time highs while the S&P 500 closed up 0.8%, just shy of a record. Strong momentum, with more than 80% of S&P 500 companies beating earnings expectations this quarter, kept the “buy-the-dip” mentality alive. The S&P 500 Tech and Comm Services sector indexes notch record high closes Friday, rising +0.97% for XLK today (and up 14.36% YTD) while XLC rises +0.34% on day (+11.21% YTD). For the week, the S&P 500 climbed 2.4%, the Dow climbed 1.3% and the Nasdaq climbed 3.9% all led by shares of Apple (AAPL) which gained 13.3% on the week, its best weekly total since 2020. Today is expected to be relatively quiet with no major U.S. economic data on the calendar and most of the large cap S&P 500 earnings behind us (455 have reported thus far). Still there are several key earnings results later this week including BABA, CSCO, AMAT, DE, CAH, TPR, BIRCK, CAVA, SE, NTES among them and key inflation data with consumer prices (CPI) tomorrow and producer prices (PPI) later this week.

In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index was closed, the Shanghai Index rose 12 points to 3,647, and the Hang Seng Index gained 47 points to 24,906. In Europe, the German DAX is down -58 point to 24,104, while the FTSE 100 is up 22 points to 9,117. Bitcoin prices are surging, rising 2.4% to $121,180 (hitting highs around $122K) while a weekend rally saw Ethereum surge to above $4,300, its highest level since Dec. 2021. In stock news, NVDA and AMD have agreed to pay 15% of their revenue from chip sales to China to the U.S. government, Bloomberg reported citing a person familiar with the matter. This will be part of a deal with the Trump admin to secure their licenses to export. Gold futures tumbled -$74 or 2.15% to $3,417 an ounce awaiting clarification from the White House over its tariff policy, after a US government agency surprised markets last week by formally ruling that 100-ounce and one-kilogram bullion bars would be subject to tariffs.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 206.97 points, or 0.47%, to 44,175.61
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 207.32 points, or 0.98%, to 21,450.02
• The Russell 2000 Index edged higher 3.70 points, or 0.17% to 2,218.42

• Earnings After the Close: ABVX ACHR ACVA AIV AMC AQST ARCT ARIS ASTS BBAI BW CE CMP CNNE DDD DSP FGEN FLNC FWRD GDOT GEVO GPRO GRWG HI HPK HROW HRTX IHRT IMXI KODK LPSN MAC MLNK MRCY OKLO PLUG PUBM QRHC RMBL RPAY SNCR TELA WPRT XENE ZIP

• Needham 10th Annual MedTech & Diagnostics 1:1 Virtual Conference, 8/11-8/12
• Oppenheimer 28th Annual Tech, Internet &Comms Conference, 8/11-8/13
• Stifel Biotech Summer Summit, 8/11-8/13, in Newport, RI

• Are markets very expensive? @FactSet noted on “X”, “The forward 12-month P/E ratio for $SPX is 22.1, which is above the 5-year average (19.9) and above the 10-year average (18.4).”
• Citigroup raised its year-end S&P 500 index target to 6,600 from 6,300, betting on corporate earnings strength fueled by benefits from President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, it said on Friday

• Gold futures in New York declined as traders awaited clarification from the White House over its tariff policy, after a US government agency stunned the market last week by formally ruling that 100-ounce and one-kilogram bullion bars would be subject to tariffs.
• Parsons (PSN) has been awarded a $30M recompete contract by U.S. Army DEVCOM’s, or Combat Capabilities Development Command, C5ISR Center.

• Western Union (WU) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Intermex (IMXI) in an all-cash transaction at $16.00 per IMXI share, representing a total value of approximately $500 million.

• Activist investor Engine Capital has built a roughly 3% stake in Avantor (AVTR) and plans to push the company to either sell itself or make other changes, the Wall Street Journal reports. Engine currently believes the company can sell for $17-$19 a share https://tinyurl.com/2e6w7f7n
• Cannabis stocks rising early (MSOS, CURLF, TCNNF, CGC, CRON, TLRY) after the WSJ reported President Trump considers reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous drug, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The President told donors earlier this month he was interested in reclassifying the drug https://tinyurl.com/ysxvy4p4
• Owens & Minor (OMI) Q2 adj EPS $0.26 vs. est. $0.27 on revs $681.9M with adj Ebitda $96.6M vs. est. $128.8M; classified products & healthcare services segment as discontinued operations.
• Bicycle Therapeutics (BCYC) files $500M mixed securities shelf.
• GoodRx (GDRX) downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James; cut tgt to $5 from $9.
• Rani Therapeutics (RANI) files $200M mixed securities shelf.
• TG Therapeutics (TGTX) files automatic mixed securities shelf.

• Nexstar (NXST) is in advanced discussions to buy rival Tegna (TGNA), the Wall Street Journal reported late Friday citing people familiar with the matter. A transaction could coalesce soon, assuming negotiations don’t hit any last-minute snags https://tinyurl.com/4x9npefc
• Intel (INTC) CEO Lip-Bu Tan is set to visit the White House on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump called for his removal last week, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
• Rumble Inc. (RUM) announced it has notified Northern Data AG of its interest in pursuing an all-stock exchange offer for 100% of the AI and high-performance computing company’s outstanding shares. Under the proposed terms, Northern Data shareholders would receive 2.319 newly issued Class A Rumble shares for each Northern Data share tendered.