Markets pushed higher last week even as geopolitical tensions remained elevated. The U.S.-Iran ceasefire broke down midweek and sent oil sharply higher, but by Friday Trump signaled openness to renewed talks, and oil gave back most of its gains as risk sentiment recovered. Wednesday’s June FOMC minutes came in hawkish, with Fed officials flagging inflation running hotter than expected due to tariffs, the Middle East conflict, and AI-driven demand. To close the week, SK Hynix made its Nasdaq debut as an ADR, a major milestone for the Korean memory giant. In other news:
Looking ahead, a lot of economic data is on the way. CPI and PPI both land midweek for a fresh read on inflation, while a string of Fed speakers throughout the week should sharpen rate expectations. Also on the radar will be a consumer sentiment reading, along with $NFLX kicking off earnings season as one of the first major names to report this quarter. Let’s see how the charts look.
Weekly Analysis
SPY (SPDR S&P 500)
$SPY closed the week at $754.86 (+1.37%), breaking above a downtrend line that started at the June all-time high. Supporting the break is a bullish MACD cross, occurring as SPY trades less than 1% from its all-time high. The Trend Strength Candles also flipped from bearish to neutral this week, another sign momentum is picking back up.
QQQ (Invesco QQQ Trust)
$QQQ led the major indexes last week, closing at $725.54 (+1.81%) as tech ran hot. The index continues to bounce off 50 EMA support, keeping the broader uptrend intact. The next key for QQQ is a bullish daily MACD cross to confirm momentum is turning back up.
IWM (iShares Russell 2000)
$IWM lagged last week, closing in the red at $295.96 (-0.53%). Even so, it holds the cleanest uptrend and strongest momentum of the three indexes. The 50 EMA is holding and trending up, and the Trend Strength Candles remain light green.
Earnings
Notable Results
KRUS (Kura Sushi USA)
- EPS: $0.03 vs $(0.03) est
- REV: $85.92M vs $86.42M est
PENG (Pengrowth Energy)
- EPS: $0.84 vs $0.55 est
- REV: $478.71M vs $424.08M est
WDFC (WD-40 Company)
- EPS: $2.33 vs $1.57 est
- REV: $195.11M vs $172.60M est
SLP (Simulations Plus)
- EPS: $0.30 vs $0.23 est
- REV: $21.88M vs $20.71M est
EPAC (Enerpac Tool Group)
- EPS: $0.60 vs $0.49 est
- REV: $167.55M vs $164.50M est
SMPL (The Simply Good Foods Company)
- EPS: $0.42 vs $0.35 est
- REV: $356.98M vs $332.35M est
LEVI (Levi Strauss & Co.)
- EPS: $0.28 vs $0.24 est
- REV: $1.56B vs $1.52B est
AZZ (AZZ Inc.)
- EPS: $1.85 vs $1.68 est
- REV: $448.53M vs $434.72M est
DAL (Delta Air Lines)
- EPS: $1.56 vs $1.47 est
- REV: $19.75B vs $18.57B est
PSMT (PriceSmart)
- EPS: $1.28 vs $1.23 est
- REV: $1.48B vs $1.45B est
PEP (PepsiCo)
- EPS: $2.20 vs $2.21 est
- REV: $24.18B vs $23.94B est
NRIX (Nurix Therapeutics)
- EPS: $(0.81) vs $(0.72) est
- REV: $9.04M vs $15.09M est
SAR (Saratoga Investment Corp)
- EPS: $0.47 vs $0.54 est
- REV: $30.77M vs $31.43M est
BNED (Barnes & Noble Education)
- EPS: $0.10 vs $0.21 est
- REV: $267.10M vs $276.05M est
BYRN (Byrna Technologies)
- EPS: $(0.44) vs $(0.12) est
- REV: $16.39M vs $22.36M est
What’s Happening Now
SKHYV SK Hynix
Raising $26.5 billion on Friday, SKHY has officially surpassed BABA as the largest foreign US listing of all time. As Nvidia’s primary High Bandwidth Memory supplier, SK Hynix controls a key AI infrastructure bottleneck while competing directly with US-based competitor Micron. To defend its moat, SK Hynix recently joined Samsung and the South Korean government’s historic $470 billion “mega-cluster” initiative, which aims to massively scale chip production and to secure the country’s multi-trillion-dollar semiconductor dominance.
AAPL Apple
Big Tech has regained momentum in July after initially underperforming the broader market earlier this year. The Magnificent Seven’s resurgence emerges as several Mag 7 names still trade near historically-low valuations such as META and MSFT both being near 23x trailing P/E. The notable laggard this month is TSLA, which has shed nearly 3% while continuing to trade at a massively inflated 316x multiple today.
XLP Consumer Staples Sector
Although July is a historically strong month for the tech sector, QQQ has only closed positive 40% of the time for next week in particular (according to the past 15Y of seasonality data). On the other hand, the consumer staple sector boasts an 80% win-rate for next week with a +0.5% average gain, while SPY shows a relatively modest yet still strong 67% win-rate.
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!
Market Update Into September 7th: Inflation Data Incoming