Updated 2 min read
US stocks advanced on Thursday as Wall Street weighed signs of a resilient economy and the move by Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook to sue President Trump, while also taking a closer look at Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings for signs the tech-fueled market rally has more room to run.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) ticked up 0.5%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.2%, eyeing the 6,500 level after setting a new all-time high on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lagged, hovering around the flatline.
Investors were watching the ongoing dispute between Trump and Cook. On Thursday, Cook sued the president after refusing to bow to his termination letter earlier this week — the biggest test yet of the central bank’s independence from executive branch influence.
Meanwhile, the initial cloud over Nvidia lifted a little as investors dug into its quarterly report, seen as a test of the AI trade driving stock gains this year. The chipmaker’s shares were down nearly 1% after dropping about 4% after the bell on Wednesday as Nvidia’s disappointing data center sales overshadowed its earnings beat.
Nvidia stressed that demand for its AI chips — which power applications like ChatGPT remotely from data centers — is healthy, countering recent fears of an AI bubble about to burst. CEO Jensen Huang touted “extraordinary” demand for the company’s Blackwell AI GPUs (graphics processing units).
Huang also told Yahoo Finance that the company is getting “fired back up” to sell chips into the $50 billion China AI market following a short-lived export ban, though geopolitical uncertainty remains an overhang on that opportunity.
Focus shifted to two key pieces of economic data out on Thursday. The government said US GDP rose 3.3% in the second quarter, a surprise bump up from its first estimate and a broad rebound from the 0.5% dip in Q1. That was due to a variety of factors — notably, a decrease in imports that followed a Q1 import surge to “front-run” tariffs, as well as a healthy pickup in consumer spending. Meanwhile, jobless claims fell as layoffs remained low.
But this week’s big test comes on Friday, with the July reading on PCE consumer inflation, closely watched by the central bank.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs
LIVE 23 updates
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Trump tariffs are increasingly forcing countries to pick sides between the US and China
Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul reports
Read more here.
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S&P 500 touches 6,500 for first time ever
The S&P (^GSPC) touched 6,500 for the first time on Thursday after a larger-than-expected GDP print and Nvidia (NVDA) earnings fueled AI optimism.
The broad-based index was on pace to close at a record for the second day in a row, up more than 10% year to date. The S&P 500 has made a stunning recovery from the April lows following President Trump’s tariff policy unveiling.
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The shine isn’t off Nvidia, but analysts grow more cautious on its growth: Wall Street reactions
Yahoo Finance’s Francisco Velasquez reports:
Read more here.
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Best Buy stock falls as guidance reveals doubts about tariff impacts
Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:
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Nvidia’s auto business surges 69% from self-driving tech
Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:
Read more here.
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Mortgage rates hit fresh 2025 lows despite Trump-Fed drama
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Walgreens goes private as Sycamore closes deal, Staples CEO to replace Tim Wentworth
Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani reports:
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Tesla’s Europe sales crater 40% in July as BYD, competitors gain
Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:
Tesla stock fell more than 1% Thursday. Read the full story here.
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Stocks turn lower after Fed governer Lisa Cook sues Trump and the Fed
The major stock gauges all turned lower after Lisa Cook, a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, sued President Trump, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday. Cook alleged that the president’s move to fire her illegally deprived her of her due process right to respond to accusations that she committed mortgage fraud.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) dipped 0.2%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) declined by 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) bounced around the flat line, in a muted response to the news. The VIX volatility index remained at a low level — 14.44.
Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Keenan reports:
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CoreWeave rises 6% after Nvidia shoutout
CoreWeave (CRWV) stock rose 6.5% Thursday morning on the heels of a shoutout from Nvidia.
During Nvidia’s (NVDA) second quarter earnings call, CFO Colette Kress highlighted CoreWeave as an early adopter of its next generation Blackwell Ultra GB300 AI servers.
Kress said, “We expect widespread market availability in the second half of the year as CoreWeave prepares to bring their GB300 instance to market…”
CoreWeave’s boost also came after commentary from CFO Nitin Agrawal to Deutsche Bank (DB) analyst Brad Zelnick during a presentation at the investment bank’s tech conference Wednesday.
“CoreWeave is well positioned both from a technology execution as well as from a financing strategy standpoint to take advantage of the hyper growth that’s happening in the AI space,” Agrawal said, noting that the company has signed expansion contracts with its “hyperscaler” customers “in the last 8 weeks or so.”
Still, skeptics on Wall Street say CoreWeave’s mounting debt and its business model are risky.
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Snowflake jumps 17% after raising full year outlook
Snowflake (SNOW) stock soared Thursday morning after the software giant raised its full year outlook for product revenue to $4.4 billion from $4.3 billion.
Analysts across the board raised their price targets on the stock as high as $285, according to Bloomberg data.
The company reported second quarter earnings Wednesday, beating Wall Street’s expectations on earnings and revenue.
“Snowflake remains at the forefront of innovation with its cloud-based data platform providing advanced capabilities for data processing and warehousing while looking to simplify platform architectures for customers across all industries,” wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a note to clients Thursday.
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Tech leads advance in US stocks at the open
Tech led US stocks mostly higher at the open of Thursday’s trading session as Wall Street continued to digest earnings results from AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) — the latest big test of the AI trade.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.4%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) ticked up nearly 0.2%, adding to an all-time high set on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell below the flat line.
Nvidia (NVDA) recovered most of its initial losses early Thursday, trading down fractionally. The company’s shares had fallen around 3% in after hours trading Wednesday as its second quarter data center sales were below Wall Street’s expectations and uncertainty around its business in China persisted.
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Build-A-Bear Workshop stock soars after posting record revenue, raising guidance
Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW) stock moved higher Thursday after the experiential retailer beat Wall Street’s expectations with record revenue and raised its full-year guidance.
In the second quarter, revenue grew 11.1% to a record $124.2 million, higher than the street’s expected $116 million, per Bloomberg consensus data. It delivered adjusted earnings of $0.94, more than the forecasted $0.69.
“This unprecedented start to the year is largely a result of a long-term focus on monetizing Build-A-Bear’s unique position in the marketplace, multi-generational appeal and exceptional brand recognition to scale the business with innovative initiatives across three strategic pillars,” CEO and President Sharon Price John told investors on its earnings call.
The company also raised its 2025 fiscal-year guidance.
“When considering these results were achieved in a wide variety of economic challenges and geopolitical shifts, they serve as a valuable source of confidence in our team, our brand, our plans and the company’s future,” Price John told investors, “With that in mind, while we understand a meaningful portion of the year remains and acknowledge the potential for some economic uncertainty ahead, we also believe it is appropriate to increase our 2025 guidance at this juncture.”
It now expects revenue to grow on a mid-to-high single-digit basis, up from the previously expected mid-single-digit increase.
It also plans to open more locations, now in the range of at least 50 to 60.
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Nvidia stock pares losses as investors ponder the chipmaker’s earnings report
Nvidia (NVDA) shed some of its post-earnings stock losses on Thursday morning after reporting its second quarter results, which beat estimates but contained some disappointment (data center revenue, for instance).
Nvidia stock dropped 4% initially after its earnings release. On Thursday, shares were down just 0.2% as markets continued to digest the $4 trillion company’s report.
Although Nvidia earnings may have overshadowed them, earnings picked up on Wednesday and Thursday. Here’s a look at how a handful of other stocks are trading after reporting quarterly results:
For more on what’s driving these moves, check out our live coverage of corporate earnings.
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GDP grows at 3.3% annualized pace in Q2, in bump from previous estimate
US GDP grew at a 3.3% annualized pace last quarter, according to the government’s second estimate released Thursday. That’s a bump up from the 3.0% from its first estimate, and also higher than the 3.1% forecast.
The GDP growth comes after the US economy shrank at a 0.5% annualized pace in the first quarter.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis, which tracks GDP, said the Q2 bump “primarily reflected a decrease in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, and an increase in consumer spending.”
President Trump’s tariffs have upended the economic landscape, with imports surging — thus subtracting from GDP — in Q1 as businesses and consumers attempted to “front-run” tariff-related price increases.
In other economic data, initial jobless claims fell slightly from last week, coming in at 229,000 compared to 234,000 the week prior. As layoffs remained low, however, hiring also is staying tepid.
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Big banks are rallying big time. Can it last?
Hope that the Federal Reserve may soon lower interest rates in September is fueling a new leg to this year’s rally in large US bank stocks.
Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports:
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The real winners in the stablecoin shift
Stablecoins promise to shake up the payments sector — and the outcome could be good for American shoppers, Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban says in today’s Morning Brief.
He reports:
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Dollar General stock pops after guidance raise
Dollar General (DG) stock popped 6% in premarket trading after the company raised its financial outlook for 2025.
The dollar store chain now sees full-year profits of $5.80 to $6.30 per share, compared to its previous expectation of approximately $5.20 to $5.80 per share. It expects same-store sales to increase 2.1% to 2.6%, compared to its previous expectation of approximately 1.5% to 2.5%.
In the second quarter, Dollar General stores saw an increase in traffic as its value proposition drew wealthier customers. The company reported earnings of $1.86 per share on $10.7 billion in net sales. Both measures were well ahead of Wall Street estimates.
“Our improved execution, along with our progress advancing key initiatives, is resonating with both existing and new customers as we further enhance our value and convenience proposition,” CEO Todd Vasos said in a statement.
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Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
Economic data: Second quarter GDP; Second quarter personal consumption; Initial jobless claims (week ended Aug. 23); Pending home sales (July)
Earnings: Affirm (AFRM), Best Buy (BBY), Bath & Body Works (BBWI), Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), Dell (DELL), Dollar General (DG), Gap (GAP), Marvell (MRVL), Petco (WOOF), TD Bank (TD), Ulta (ULTA)
Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:
Nvidia CEO: China should take its cue from US tech
Nvidia stock slips after earnings beat but fail to wow
Big banks are rallying big time. Can it last?
The real winners in the stablecoin shift
Mexico bows to Trump with new tariffs on China
Snowflake shares surge as AI boom fuels demand
Nvidia joins record US buyback spree with $60B plan
Meituan’s loss warning fires up $27 billion China internet rout
Buffett lifts stakes in Japan trading houses, buoying shares
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Premarket trending tickers: Snowflake, Cooper Companies and CrowdStrike
Here’s a look at some of the top stocks trending in premarket trading:
Snowflake (SNOW) stock soared 14% before the bell on Thursday after the cloud analytics firm raised its forecast for fiscal 2026 product revenue on Wednesday. Snowflake is banking on strong demand for its data analytics services, as enterprises prioritize artificial intelligence spending.
Cooper Companies (COO) shares slumped 14% on Thursday in premarket trading after lowering its annual revenue forecast due to a slowdown in demand across certain geographies. The company saw a “noticeable drop” in demand for contact lenses in parts of Asia and a slowdown in America.
CrowdStrike (CRWD) stock fell 3% before the bell after the cybersecurity firm’s weak quarterly revenue forecast signaled the lasting effects of a botched update last year that caused a global outage.
