Market Update Into August 17th: Quiet New Highs

3 mins read

Markets were bullish last week as cool inflation data, big AI infrastructure earnings beats, and a record-setting 30-year bond auction all hit the tape. CPI cooled from the prior reading and landed in line with expectations, with headline and core MoM prints of +0.1% and +0.2% both matching forecasts, while PPI dropped to 0.0% MoM, well below the +0.2% estimate. That data pulled rate hike expectations for this year lower, even as the US sold 30-year bonds at a 5.216% yield, the highest at auction since 2001. AI infrastructure names $NBIS and $CRWV reported earnings with big beats and rallied hard, with $NBIS climbing back near its all-time highs, and also helping memory names like $SNDK and $MU rally. On the geopolitical front, oil and energy names moved higher after the Trump administration announced further Iran sanctions, with tensions near the Strait of Hormuz still running elevated. In other news:

Looking ahead, key retail earnings from $WMT, $TGT, and $BABA are on deck. The FOMC minutes will also be released Wednesday, covering what happened at the July FOMC meeting. With markets sitting at all-time highs, let’s see how the charts are setting up for the week ahead.

Weekly Analysis

$SPY hit another new all-time high last week, closing in the green at $776.34 (+0.40%) as momentum continued to rise. As it reaches for its 1.618 Fibonacci extension at $787.46, the weekly Trend Strength Candle is inching toward its strongest color, cyan. However, with last week’s volume at its lowest level since February 2025, traders are wondering how strong this rally truly is.

$QQQ ended last week in the green at $730.57 (+1.11%), but still has yet to reach a new all-time high. Volume failed to confirm the move, and momentum remains the weakest among the main indexes. With memory names like $SNDK and $MU rallying last week, can they drag $QQQ to a new all-time high?

$IWM finished the week strong, closing at $305.04 (+1.17%) as it continued to lead the main indexes. It closed a second straight week with a cyan Trend Strength Candle and is just 2% away from hitting its 1.618 Fibonacci extension. With rate hike probabilities for this year dropping, small-caps continue to press higher.

Notable Results

Notable Results

NBIS (Nebius Group N.V.)

EPS: ($0.12) vs ($0.82) est
REV: $582.300M vs $576.742M est

CBRS (Cerebras Systems Inc.)

EPS: ($0.04) vs ($0.19) est
REV: $180.110M vs $193.676M est

CRWV (CoreWeave Inc.)

EPS: ($1.03) vs ($1.49) est
REV: $2.575B vs $2.552B est

CAH (Cardinal Health Inc.)

EPS: $2.91 vs $2.42 est
REV: $63.672B vs $65.206B est

JD (JD.com Inc.)

EPS: $0.93 vs $0.81 est
REV: $51.053B vs $51.550B est

NU (Nu Holdings Ltd.)

EPS: $0.22 vs $0.19 est
REV: $5.513B vs $5.474B est

LITE (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)

EPS: $3.23 vs $2.90 est
REV: $1.006B vs $987.871M est

ALC (Alcon Inc.)

EPS: $0.84 vs $0.76 est
REV: $2.782B vs $2.769B est

COHR (Coherent Corp.)

EPS: $1.74 vs $1.58 est
REV: $2.046B vs $1.983B est

CSCO (Cisco Systems Inc.)

EPS: $1.22 vs $1.13 est
REV: $17.252B vs $16.832B est

FERG (Ferguson plc)

EPS: $3.39 vs $3.28 est
REV: $8.750B vs $8.611B est

AMAT (Applied Materials Inc.)

EPS: $3.50 vs $3.39 est
REV: $9.115B vs $9.003B est

RKLB (Rocket Lab USA Inc.)

EPS: ($0.08) vs ($0.08) est
REV: $234.066M vs $231.070M est

BN (Brookfield Corporation)

EPS: $0.66 vs $0.66 est
REV: $19.406B vs $1.604B est

B (Barnes Group Inc.)

EPS: $0.82 vs $0.83 est
REV: $5.292B vs $4.964B est

SPG (Simon Property Group Inc.)

EPS: $3.12 vs $3.18 est
REV: $1.791B vs $1.633B est

FNV (Franco-Nevada Corp.)

EPS: $1.81 vs $1.97 est
REV: $580.900M vs $606.736M est

SE (Sea Ltd.)

EPS: $0.70 vs $0.85 est
REV: $7.788B vs $7.138B est

ASTS (AST SpaceMobile Inc.)

EPS: ($0.35) vs ($0.29) est
REV: $31.520M vs $34.343M est

What’s Happening Now

CRWV CoreWeave
Lead “neocloud” companies CoreWeave and Nebius both crushed earnings this week, validating the broad AI hyperscale trade and squeezing Michael Burry’s sensational shorts (although he has since claimed to double down on his NBIS put). CRWV jumped ~19% after revealing a massive $104B revenue backlog and raising 2026 guidance. In parallel, NBIS skyrocketed ~50% after Q2 revenue surged 454% YoY.

XLI Industrial Sector
As AI infrastructure booms, so has the “picks & shovels” Industrials sector. FIX and VRT lead the pack YTD, providing specialized cooling systems for AI servers. Meeting insatiable power needs, grid-builder PWR recently raised FY26 sales guidance to $39B+ while GEV is sold out of gas turbines through 2030. Meanwhile, GNRC has secured major power supply agreements with two leading hyperscalers, and construction-focused CAT recently reported record revenues.

NOW ServiceNow
ServiceNow is about to enter its strongest historical window, with nearly 80% win-rates over the next two weeks. Seasonal tailwinds are fundamentally supported by its stellar Q2 earnings beat, featuring a 24% YoY revenue jump to $4.0B and a newly-minted $1B AI cybersecurity business. As an agentic AI-focused Nvidia partner, NOW’s workflow platform is now positioning itself as a critical enterprise application layer.

Believe it or not, this is just a fraction of what happened in the markets last week. For a full rundown delivered straight to your inbox every weekend, sign up for The Official Trendspider Newsletter!