Stock Market Live August 22: S&P 500 (VOO) Edges Higher as Investors Await Powell Comments
Key Points
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to give a speech on the state of the economy in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later today.
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Nvidia is in talks with the government about exporting a more powerful AI chip to China.
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Friday Wrap-up
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF closed at 593.22 Friday, up 1.5% for the day but only 0.3% for the week.
Walmart Can Still Win, Too
Investment bank Truist lowered its price target on S&P 500 component Walmart (NYSE: WMT | WMT Price Prediction) stock to $109 after yesterday’s earnings miss, but kept its buy rating on the retailer. Emphasizing strong sales momentum, and in particular same store sales growth of 4.6% in the US, Truist looked past the company’s relatively weak earnings to forecast more sales momentum in the second half of the year.
Consumers are seeking “value,” says Truist, and Walmart can provide it.
Walmart stock is up only marginally this morning, however, while the Voo is now surging ahead 1.6%.
Roblox Could Be a Winner
In analyst action, Wolfe Research analyst Shweta Khajuria upgraded Roblox Corp. (NYSE: RBLX) to outperform with a $150 price target this morning. “We see Roblox benefiting from platform flywheel effects – search & discovery improvements, faster content velocity, pricing optimizations that include regional pricing, differential pricing, and in-app optimizations, and ad revenue which is still very nascent,” writes the analyst.
Roblox stock is up more than 2% on the news. The Voo is now up 1.4%.
Zoom Stock (What Else?) Zooms Higher
One more high-profile earnings report from last night: Pandemic star Zoom Communications (Nasdaq: ZM) reported a $1.53 per share Q2 profit, $0.15 ahead of expectations. Revenue edged out expectations at $1.22 billion, and Zoom guided higher on Q3 earnings ($1.42 to $1.44 per share) and full year fiscal 2026 earnings as well — $5.81 to $5.84 per share.
Zoom stock is up nearly 8% in the first few minutes of trading.
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to give a speech at the Fed’s Jackson Hole conference later Friday. Investors are all ears, and cautiously optimistic Powell might say something positive, and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) is edging up 0.3% premarket in anticipation of that.
Even so, mixed economic news have reduced the chances of the Fed lowering interest rates in September, with pundits now giving that eventuality a 75% chance.
In other news, Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG) (Nasdaq: GOOGL) has reportedly inked a six-year, $10 billion contract to lend its server farms to Meta (Nasdaq: META) and the latter’s artificial intelligence efforts. Word of cooperation between the two internet giants and S&P 500 components has both stocks moving higher premarket.
And speaking of artificial intelligence, Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) is said to be seeking permission from the U.S. government to sell a more advanced AI chip, dubbed B30A, to China. More powerful than the H20 chip China currently favors, Nvidia will be hoping that the prospect of taking 15% of revenue from B30A sales to China may entice the Administration to give it the nod of approval.
Earnings
In earnings news, S&P 500 component company and tax software-maker Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) beat earnings by nine cents last night, reporting $2.75 per share in fiscal Q4 2025 profit. Revenue for the quarter was $60 million more than expected at $3.8 billion, and Intuit forecast strong earnings — $22.96 per share or better — in fiscal 2026.
Revenue, however, could be less than expected — perhaps as little as $20 billion — and investors are punishing Intuit for that part of its forecast. The stock is down more than 6% premarket.
Warehouse store BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ), which is not an S&P 500 component, reported $1.14 per share in Q2 profits this morning, four cents better than expected. Revenue, however, was $110 million below estimates at $5.38 billion, and BJ’s stock, too, is down premarket — nearly 6%.
Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
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