Your Evening Briefing

August 19, 2025

S&P 500 falls even with most stocks rising as traders dump AI names

The nascent pullback across high-flying, AI-linked names picked up steam on Tuesday, sending major indexes down even as most stocks went up.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6% despite having far more gainers than losers, the Nasdaq 100 tumbled 1.4%, and the Russell 2000 gave back 0.8%.

The iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF had its worst day since the opening session of Q3, with Palantir leading S&P decliners. The AI darling fell 9.3% to match its longest losing streak since April 2024.

As you’d expect given the tape, with indexes down despite most stocks rising, the pain at the S&P 500 sector ETF level was concentrated in tech — communication services and consumer discretionary were the only other two sectors to fall on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley’s basket of AI tech beneficiaries suffered its biggest one-day drop since April 10, falling 4.1%.

Gains on the day were led by Intel, which rose 6.9% after the company reported that Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group was buying a $2 billion stake in the US chipmaker. Elsewhere...

Home Depot shares were up 3.2% after the home improvement retailer turned in weaker-than-expected Q2 results but doubled down on its full-year outlook.
Best Buy shares were up 3.3% after the electronics retailer announced plans to launch a new third-party marketplace, expanding its online assortment beyond tech.
Palo Alto Networks was a rare sight on Tuesday: an AI-linked name that performed well. Shares jumped 3% after posting top- and bottom-line beats in the fourth quarter along with a bright outlook for its current fiscal year.
Meta shares were down about 2% as the tech giant announced internally that it’s splitting its AI division. The decisions reportedly include moving employees, AI executive exits, and eliminating some roles.
Fabrinet shares sank 12.8% after the maker of optical communication devices said that sales in its data communication business are expected to fall in the current quarter.
Viking Therapeutics fell 42% after the company reported trial results for its weight-loss pill Tuesday morning that disappointed investors.

— Luke Kawa, Markets Editor & Nia Warfield, Markets Writer

The GLP-1 biz keeps booming while drugmakers and telehealth companies have a food fight

Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Hims are struggling to keep investors happy. Lawsuits are flying. And yet, more people than ever are on the blockbuster weight-loss drugs. Read more.

If April was “Sell America” month, June was “Buy America” month — and it was 9x the size

Retail traders aren’t the only ones buying the dip in this bull market, as foreign investors plowed $163 billion into US equities in June, the most on record.

Read more.

Chamath’s Social Capital gets back into SPAC game with “American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp.” The so-called “SPAC King” is raising at least $250 million for his new blank check vehicle, but all he touches has not turned to gold. Read more.

Apple is producing all four iPhone 17 models in India
This is the first time it’s done so as Apple seeks to lessen its reliance on China
Nvidia has a new tailor-made Blackwell chip in the works for sale to China, Reuters reports
Reuters reports that Nvidia hopes to have this new chip available for testing in China next month
$670 million worth of Labubus were sold in the first half of the year
Labubu maker Pop Mart reported its earnings for the first half of 2025 on Tuesday.
Nexstar, the US’s largest local TV broadcaster, is looking to get bigger with a $6.2 billion megamerger
TV broadcaster Nexstar plans to merge with smaller rival Tegna, testing the Trump administration’s consolidation appetite
Flex sees brief spike after granting Amazon right to buy shares
The electronics manufacturer issued a warrant letting Amazon scoop up nearly $4 million in shares over the next five years
Nakamoto buys $679 million in bitcoin in its first purchase as a public company
Bitcoin’s price meanwhile seems frozen, but one solo miner is on fire
Ethereum spot ETFs see second-largest daily outflow of almost $200 million
Meanwhile, the exit queue for ethereum validators has set a new record at 911,718 tokens — worth about $3.9 billion
North America’s data center vacancy rate reaches an all-time low of 1.6%
The rate represents “unrelenting demand” from hyperscalers and AI occupiers
After broad workforce cutbacks, Meta is now hoping to downsize its AI team, too
Meta’s AI-driven efficiency era is hitting Meta’s AI team, too

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