Early Look

Thursday, August 21, 2025

U.S. futures are edging lower after a volatile session on Thursday where major averages tumbled early, but the dip was bought…again…late morning into the close paring daily losses. Growth stock weakness weighed on the S&P and Nasdaq on Tuesday, falling as much as -1% and -1.8% yesterday before late strength helped cut S&P 500 and Nasdaq losses. A recent selloff in tech stocks drove the Nasdaq to a two-week low as caution prevailed ahead of the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated Jackson Hole symposium this week, while high beta momentum names tumbled at the open…but closed at the highs as dip buyers returned. Crypto was also at session highs late day (before slipping overnight). Shares of Palantir (PLTR) exemplified the broader market action, tumbling 25% the last few days, falling from record highs of $190 on 8/12 to lows of $142.34 yesterday but has since bounced 10%. Still, despite the bounce in tech, the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) was down for a 5th down day in a row for the 1st time in 2025 (notes this happened twice in 2024 in January and November), as all 3 cases had a ~4% drawdown. In the other 2 cases QQQ made a new ATH 10-11 days after the low. Food for thought. Markets now await remarks from Federal Reserve officials at their Jackson Hole symposium this week, with Fed Chair Powell highlighted on Friday. Among factors for the few day sell off in tech could point to a rotation to defensive ahead of the Fed, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s comments last week about artificial intelligence stocks being “in a bubble,” and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study that showed many tech companies were struggling to translate AI into actual profits. Minutes from the Fed’s July meeting, where interest rates were left unchanged, showed all but two policymakers viewed it as appropriate to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate last meeting. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index dropped -278 points to 42,610, the Shanghai Index rose 4 points to 3,771, and the Hang Seng Index declined -61 points to 25,104. In Europe, the German DAX is down -59 points to 24,217, while the FTSE 100 is down -28 points to 9,259.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.04 points, or 0.04%, to 44,938.31
• The Nasdaq Composite dropped -142.10 points, or 0.67%, to 21.172.86
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -7.23 points, or 0.32% to 2,269.38

• 8:30 AM ET                  Continuing Claims…est. 1.96M
• 8:30 AM ET                  Philly Fed Business Index for August…est. 7.0 (prior 15.9)
• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, Aug-Flash…est. 49.5 (prior 49.8)
• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Services PMI, Aug-Flash…est. 54.2 (prior 55.7)
• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Composite PMI, Aug-Flash…prior 55.1
• 10:00 AM ET                Existing Home Sales M/M for July…est. 3.92M (prior 3.93M)
• 10:00 AM ET                Leading Index M/M for July…est. (-0.1%)
• 10:30 AM ET                Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventory Data
• 1:00 PM ET US Treasury to sell 9.9M in 30-year TIPS

• Earnings After the Close: INTU ROST WDAY ZM

• In Japan, the flash August PMI survey was a mixed bag. While the Composite PMI rose to 51.9 or its highest level since February, the improvement reflected mainly slower contraction in the manufacturing sector as manufacturing gauge increased to 49.9 in August from 48.9 previously.
• Euro zone businesses saw new orders increase in August for the first time since May 2024, as the HCOB Flash Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 51.1 in August from 50.9 in July, marking the third consecutive monthly improvement/highest reading since May 2024.
• Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook responded to President Trumps call to resign citing a letter sent by Federal Housing Finance Agency head Bill Pulte urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Cook over a pair of mortgages. Cook stated, “I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet. I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”

• Instacart (CART) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Wedbush and cut its tgt to $42 from $55 citing competition concerns.
• Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt downgraded Instacart (CART) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $42, down from $55
• John B Sanfilippo (JBSS) Q4 EPS $1.15, EBIT $20.138Mm on sales $269.076Mm; inventory at qtr end +29.5% due to higher commodity acquisition costs and higher on-hand quantities of finished goods ahead of anticipated seasonal demand.
• McCormick & Company Inc. (MKC) signed a definitive agreement to acquire an additional 25% ownership interest in McCormick de Mexico from Grupo Herdez for $750M, according to a company statement. The transaction will increase McCormick’s ownership to 75% of the joint venture formed in 1947.
• SharkNinja Inc (SN) secondary offering of 5,500,000 ordinary shares priced at $116.00 per ordinary share.
• Tesla (TSLA) has closed parts of its gigafactory in Germany since Monday after a fire broke out, according to a report. Employees were evacuated from the battery-pack manufacturing part of its factory near Grünheide, and parts of the premises remain cordoned off, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported
• WH Smith (WHPTF) shares tumbled after saying it expects group pre-tax profit for the year ending August 31 to be around 110 million pounds ($147.84M), which is down from its April forecast for annual profit to be in line with market expectations, which were around 182.6 million pounds.

• Canadian Solar (CSIQ) shares slide after Q2 adj EPS loss (-$0.53) vs. $0.02 last year; Q2 revs $1.73B, below consensus $1.9B; said revenue came in below company guidance due to storage shipments shifting to second half and delays in certain project sales; sees Q3 revenue $1.3B-$1.5B below consensus $1.9B and cuts FY25 revenue view to $5.6B-$6.3B from $6.1B-$7.1B; said expects demand to normalize after surge in China installations in H1.
• Nordson (NDSN) Q3 adj EPS $2.73 vs. est. $2.64; Q3 sales rose 12% y/y to $741.5M vs. est. $723.1M; Board of Directors approved a new $500 million share repurchase authorization; Q3 EBITDA was $239M, or 32% of sales, an increase of 15% y/y EBITDA of $208M, or 31% of sales; said Backlog is down approximately 5% sequentially following a strong Q3; said FY sales are now tracking slightly below the mid-point.

• DaVita Inc (DVA) board increases share repurchase program by $2B.
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced that it will increase its presence in North Carolina, investing $2B in a 160,000+ square foot dedicated manufacturing facility at FUJIFILM’s new biopharmaceutical manufacturing site in Holly Springs, North Carolina.
• Masimo (MASI) claimed the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP, unlawfully allowed Apple (AAPL) to reactivate a blood-oxygen tracking feature on its Apple Watches, a feature that infringes on patents for the technology – Bloomberg reported.

• CoreWeave (CRWV) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at HC Wainright with a $180 price target saying the stock’s valuation “has sunk deep enough.”
• Disney (DIS) said ESPN & WWE today announced WWE premium live events will debut on ESPN platforms beginning September 20, earlier than previously announced.
• 3d Systems (DDD) announces Chief Financial Officer transition as Phyllis Nordstrom to serve as interim CFO as Jeffrey d. Creech steps down.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley as saying the recently closed Juniper deal will be an earnings upside.
• Meta (META) has frozen its hiring spree for its AI division after hiring over 50 AI researchers and engineers, the WSJ reports saying the hiring freeze also prohibits employees from moving between teams inside the division.
• Following remarks made by U.S. commerce secretary Howard Lutnick related to chip exports that officials found “insulting,” a group of Chinese regulators have moved to restrict the sales of H20, Nvidia’s (NVDA) China-specific AI processor as per The Financial Times.