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The S&P 500 has touched on a fresh all-time intraday trading high today, buoyed by cooler than anticipated inflation data. The broader market index currently hovers at 7,811.44.
JPMorgan boosted its Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) price target to $625 from $550 and kept an Overweight rating, pointing to AI as the engine behind faster Azure and Microsoft 365 Commercial Cloud growth. Analysts say Microsoft’s mix of strong revenue growth, earnings power, and lower capital needs than some AI peers could support a return to the stock’s historical market premium.
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This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
The markets were little changed in early morning trading, with a slightly positive bias, as traders worked through a softer oil tape, fresh inflation data and a choppier batch of tech earnings. Earnings kept the Nasdaq in check. Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) fell about 7% before the open after results failed to clear investor expectations, while Cerebras (Nasdaq: CBRS) dropped 15% and Coherent (NYSE: COHR) slid 6% following overnight updates.
The macro backdrop was more supportive. Oil prices moved lower, and July PPI came in cooler than expected, giving traders another inflation signal to weigh against earnings that are starting to separate the winners from the laggards. Inflation gave markets a cleaner wholesale-price read, with July PPI flat month over month versus expectations for a 0.2% rise. On an annual basis, producer prices cooled to 4.7% from 5.5%, while core PPI rose 0.2% monthly and matched forecasts at 4.2% year over year.
On the labor market side, initial jobless claims rose to 209,000, above expectations for 202,000, while continuing claims eased to 1.777 million. Taken together, the numbers give traders a familiar Goldilocks setup for SPY and QQQ: inflation pressure is easing, but the labor market is not cracking hard enough to trigger recession alarm.
Here’s a look at where things stand as of pre-morning trading:
Dow Futures: 54,027 Up 0.29%
Nasdaq 100 Futures: 29,907 Up 0.18%
S&P Futures: 7,790 Up 0.26%
CXMT made a blockbuster public-market debut in China, overtaking Tencent as the country’s most valuable listed company with a market cap of roughly $524 billion, according to Bloomberg. The move puts China’s memory-chip ambitions directly on the market’s front page.
Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) fell 6.1% to $116.30 even after beating estimates, with adjusted EPS of $1.22 versus $1.17 expected and revenue of $17.25 billion versus $16.82 billion. The selloff looked company-specific, with investors taking profits after a strong run and focusing on elevated expectations and possible AI-hardware margin pressure.
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) revealed it will be reporting its quarterly earnings on August 20th.
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Gerelyn Terzo is the author of dividend investing handbook "Dividend Investing Strategies: How to Have Your Cake & Eat It Too." A veteran financial journalist, she covers agri-finance for outlets like Global AgInvesting and the broader stock market and personal finance for 24/7 Wall Street. She began at CNBC and later helped launch Fox Business in New York. Gerelyn currently resides in Woodland Park, Colorado and dabbles in nature photography as a hobby.
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