Week in Review: Stocks Near New Highs, Small Cap CEOs Still Bullish

Earnings continued to move stocks last week as the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 reached new highs.

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) was down 0.56%, and the S&P 500 Index (SPX) was up 0.36% after reaching an all-time high Thursday. The small cap Russell 2000 Index (RUT) was up 1.12% and reached a new high Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) was up 1.09%, and the PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up 0.49%.

The U.S. oil price benchmark moved up roughly 7% for the week, to more than $82 per barrel from near $77 last Friday.

A number of CEOs joined our airwaves to comment on earnings. What they are saying: 2Q Was Big, Expect More Growth.  There was agreement with that sentiment in some of our most popular posts this week:

Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist at Carson Group, argues that the U.S. economy is stronger than many investors believe. He highlights resilient consumers, a healthy labor market, strong corporate earnings, and broad market participation. See Ryan Detrick Sees More Upside as the Economy Defies the Doubters

Securitize (SECZ) CEO Carlos Domingo sees a bright future for digital assets and tokenization after Securitize reported its first quarterly results as a publicly traded company. The firm just marked $5 billion in assets under management and has formed new partnerships with large asset managers including Apollo Global Management (APO), BlackRock (BLK), KKR & Co. (KKR). Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo on Tokenization’s Next Growth Phase

Technology, AI infrastructure and the data center buildout:

• Nvidia (NVDA) announced it pooled $500 billion in AI infrastructure financing. Nvidia shares were up 0.5% for the week. There is, however, a strong shift in companies "being rewarded for selling compute versus buying" compute in the race to create the first true AI model that generates phenomenal profits, says Noah Kann, with Venari Asset Management. See NVDA Growing 'Kingmaker' Role in AI Buildout as GOOGL Races for 'True' AI
• Coreweave (CRWV) shares jumped more than 16% for the week on strong earnings, one of many significant earnings-driven stock moves last week. Hear more from Coreweave (CRWV) Co-Founder & CDO on Earnings, AI Contracts & Power Needs
• Despite beating earnings and revenue expectations, and raising guidance, Cisco (CSCO) shares traded lower Thursday. See CSCO Slides Despite Strong Quarter, Margins Face Scrutiny | Trading 360
• Also see JD, BABA & BIDU: What Chinese AI Earnings Will Say About Global Tech Trade

Other important themes:

Inflation, Fed policy, rates and crude oil:

• Charles Schwab's Nathan Peterson talks about the potential for prolonged U.S.-Iran conflict uncertainty, inflation, and volatility versus earnings strength and the semiconductor trade. See Crude Oil Back in Focus After CPI Cools Inflation Concerns, SOX Levels to Watch

Consumer strength and retail dispersion: 

• Listen to Orion CIO Tim Holland, who says strong consumers are keeping the economy on track

As always, bookmark our articles for daily coverage of what's moving markets.

ECONOMIC CALENDAR, Monday, August 17:

• 08:30 AM: NY Empire State Manufacturing Index
• 10:00 AM: NAHB Housing Market Index

EARNINGS SNAPSHOT: Monday

• Premarket: n/a
• Postmarket: Fabrinet (FN)

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