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Shares of SpaceX earlier this week climbed back above their IPO price.
Credit: Nikolas Kokovlis / NurPhoto via Getty Images

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• SpaceX shares have surged this month, rebounding from lows below $105.
• The stock has this week come within cents of the $150 opening price logged on IPO day.

SpaceX’s hot August has continued. Another share-price milestone could be within view. 

Shares of SpaceX (SPCX) rose nearly 10% yesterday to above $146. That rise, which followed last week’s more-than-20% climb, brought the stock’s month-to-date climb to about 35%, extending its move off lows below $105. 

The stock isn’t as lively today, with the shares down less than 1% shortly after the open. But yesterday’s high was within 40 cents of $150, the price at which the shares opened on their first day of trading. The stock, which earlier this week climbed back above the shares’ $135 IPO price, hasn’t touched that level since early July. 

While SpaceX is more than a rocket-launch company, there’s been some spillover into the space sector. An example: Three space-themed ETFs—Global X Space Tech (ORBX), Roundhill Space & Technology (MARS), and Tema Space Innovators (NASA)—have all risen roughly 8% or more in the past month, outperforming the S&P 500 along the way. 

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, won by Spain, helped StubHub’s second-quarter revenue.
Credit: Waleed Ibrahim / NurPhoto via Getty Images

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• StubHub reported a second-quarter net loss despite a 33% revenue increase.
• StubHub shares fell after the company’s latest earnings report, extending deep losses year-to-date.

StubHub posted a substantial increase in second-quarter revenue, thanks in large part to the World Cup. It just wasn’t able to turn a profit, and investors are selling the stock.

StubHub (STUB) shares sank 14% in morning trading Thursday, a day after the ticket-reselling giant posted an unexpected loss even though the World Cup helped drive a better-than-expected revenue jump of 33%.

The New York-based company posted a net loss attributable to stockholders of $40,000 in the second quarter. Although that shrank from a loss of $75.9 million a year ago, analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were expecting a profit of $43.7 million.

Revenue of $573.1 million topped the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $519.2 million, with founder and CEO Eric Baker saying Q2 “demonstrated strong demand for live events, highlighted by a record-setting World Cup.”

However, costs and expenses increased 37% to $553.6 million, and income from operations fell 22% to $19.5 million. Adjusted gross margin slipped to 82% from 83% a year ago. “You can see that there were some higher direct costs related to the World Cup impacting gross margin,” CFO Connie James said on the earnings call, according to an AlphaSense transcript.

StubHub shares entered Thursday down 37% since the start of the year.

News of the day for Aug. 13, 2026

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed higher on Wednesday after two days of losses to start the week.
Credit: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Stock futures are slightly higher as investors await the release of more inflation data; the Producer Price Index report is expected to show that wholesale inflation picked up last month; Anthropic is reportedly looking to go public next month at a record valuation of $2 trillion; Cerebras shares are tumbling after the chipmaker’s second quarterly report as a public company; and Cisco shares are falling despite strong quarterly results. Here’s what you need to know today.

Stock Futures Inch Higher Ahead of More Inflation Data

Stocks are showing modest gains this morning as the market looks to extend yesterday’s momentum. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.3% recently, while S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% and Nasdaq futures added 0.1%. Yesterday, the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, powered by strong earnings from a number of AI-related companies, while the Dow closed slightly lower. WTI crude oil futures were down 2% to $81.50 a barrel recently as investors await the latest updates on talks with Iran that have recently fallen apart. Gold futures were down 0.5% at $4,445 an ounce after climbing to a two-month high yesterday, while bitcoin was little-changed at $63,400. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked lower to 4.67%.

Producer Price Index Report Due Out This Morning

Investors get a second straight day of inflation data after yesterday’s Consumer Price Index reading for July came in as expected, showing that price growth slowed for the second straight month after the Iran war sent prices surging earlier in the year. The Producer Price Index report, set to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show that prices rose 0.2% in July, after dropping 0.3% the month before thanks to easing oil prices. Investors are keeping a close eye on inflation numbers amid concerns that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates to contain price increases.

Anthropic Could Target $2 Trillion IPO Valuation With October Debut, Report Says

Anthropic investors are expecting it could go public in October with a $2 trillion valuation, which would top the record for most valuable IPO ever recently set by SpaceX (SPCX), The Financial Times reported. The report said Anthropic’s annualized revenue, a popular metric among AI companies taking their most productive month of revenue and extrapolating it to a full year, could reach $100 billion to $120 billion by the end of the year. The Claude chatbot maker faces some risks including intensifying competition with cheaper models coming out of China, along with regulatory uncertainty after Anthropic was forced to take two of its most advanced models down for a few days in June. Anthropic filed confidentially for an IPO earlier this year and would have to release more detailed information than it ever has about its finances, amid worries that AI firms are burning cash without a real path to profitability.

Cerebras Stock Tumbles After Earnings Report

Cerebras (CBRS) shares are sinking despite a solid quarterly earnings report. The chipmaker, which went public earlier this year, said after the bell yesterday that it generated $180.11 million in revenue in the second quarter, growth of more than 70% year-over-year and about $15 million above what analysts had forecast, per Visible Alpha estimates. Cerebras posted a “core,” or adjusted loss of $6.91 million, narrower than the $41 million analyst consensus, but its net loss of $450.53 million was nearly $100 million wider than analysts had expected. The chipmaker’s third-quarter sales forecast came in ahead of estimates, and Cerebras also lifted its full-year forecast for “core” revenue. Shares were down 15% in recent premarket trading.

Cisco Stock Falls Despite Solid Results

Cisco (CSCO) shares are also in the red this morning despite a solid report from the networking hardware giant. Cisco said late yesterday that its fiscal fourth-quarter revenue came in at $17.25 billion, up 18% year-over-year and better than analysts had forecast, while adjusted earnings were $1.22 per share, also better than expected. However, Cisco’s adjusted gross margins declined year-over-year, which could be a concern for some investors and analysts. Hardware makers such as Cisco have faced increasing costs in recent quarters as shortages for memory chips and other components have led to raised prices, squeezing the margins of some tech companies. Cisco shares were down 6% ahead of the opening bell.

This article has been corrected since it was first published to reflect the FT reported investors are expecting Anthropic to go public in October with a $2 trillion valuation.

Analysts cited weak sales at Old Navy as a reason for downgrading Gap stock.
Credit: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Jefferies on Wednesday downgraded Gap stock to “hold,” citing concerns about weakness at Old Navy.
• Gap’s second-quarter earnings report due on Aug. 27 could offer investors more insights into brand performance.

Gap’s turnaround effort may be progressing at its namesake stores, but worries about weakness at Old Navy have one group of analysts downgrading the stock.

Jefferies analysts on Wednesday cut their rating of Gap (GAP) stock to “hold” from “buy,” and lowered their price target to $23 from $29, telling clients they’re “increasingly concerned about softer trends at Old Navy.” Gap shares dropped over 3% Wednesday to around $20, leaving them about 20% lower for the year so far. 

The analysts wrote that recent conversations with investors “have shifted from whether the turnaround is real to how much longer it can be sustained, with particular focus on Old Navy’s trajectory.” Gap has also been relying more heavily on discounts at Gap and Old Navy to drive sales in recent months, the analysts wrote, with average selling prices declining at both brands.

The split between Gap and its subsidiaries has been the story of Gap’s results in recent quarters, with strong results at its namesake stores offset by lackluster performances from Old Navy, Athleta, and Banana Republic. 

Of the other seven analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha, four have neutral ratings like Jefferies, while just three have recommended buying the stock. Their mean target hovers just above $28.

Investors will get their next look at how the retailer’s brands are faring when Gap reports its second-quarter earnings due after markets close on Aug. 27.

Customers check the price at a store in New York on May 8.
Credit: Xinhua News Agency / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Wage growth is lagging behind inflation, reducing consumers’ spending power and dampening economic momentum.
• Subdued wage growth may ease inflation concerns, giving the Federal Reserve less reason to raise interest rates.
• AI-related industries are seeing faster wage growth, but broader productivity gains from AI remain uncertain.

The surprisingly weak July jobs report is prompting doubts about the job market’s strength, but one trend is clear: wages aren’t rising much.

The latest evidence came Friday, when the monthly jobs report showed average hourly earnings rose at an annual pace of 3.2% in July—below the current inflation rate of 3.4%. That could dampen consumers’ spending power, since their paychecks aren’t keeping up with rising prices.

“Wage pressures are pretty muted right now,” said Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed. “By and large, employers are just not pulling out the stops to attract people through wages.” 

Subdued wage growth could help the economy a bit, as it could give the Federal Reserve less reason to raise interest rates. That would prevent credit cards and other borrowing from getting more expensive, easing pressure for consumers with debt.

If the Fed is more patient, it may be because the dreaded wage-price spiral isn’t posing a major threat, analysts say. 

Prices are on the rise, thanks partly to the Iran war’s energy shock and booming artificial intelligence investments. But subdued wage growth lessens the risks that inflation will spiral, analysts say. 

A much-debated economic theory suggests scorching hot labor markets can make inflation much worse. 

That happens when employers, forced to absorb big wage increases to retain employees, raise sticker prices for consumers to sustain their profits. Those customers then ask their employers for a raise of their own, feeding the spiral.

Why This Matters

Americans’ paychecks are losing ground to inflation, potentially weighing on consumer spending. But softer wages could also reduce pressure on the Fed to raise interest rates.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh calls that balance between strong job markets and low prices a “cruel choice” he doesn’t believe in, and economists have long debated whether wage-price spirals are a thing of the past. But the spiral was damaging in the 1970s, when inflation was even higher for longer than after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employers appear to have the upper hand today, analysts say, with weak hiring trends helping keep any wage pressures tame.

“History tells us that supply shocks only become truly dangerous for central bankers when they collide with a jobs market capable of propagating them,” James Smith, an economist at ING, wrote in a research note, adding that “without the fuel of a tight jobs market, the inflation fire can only spread so far.”

Cooler Job Market

Today, the job market isn’t all that hot. The unemployment rate is low at 4.1% in July, but monthly jobs growth has been lackluster and went slightly negative in July.

“It’s clear that the rate of job growth has slowed and the labor market has cooled off, so it makes sense that wage growth has slowed,” said Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial.  

The supply of labor has fallen, as Baby Boomers keep retiring and President Donald Trump’s immigration policies limit the number of workers available.

In theory, the reduced supply of workers should push up the price of labor—wages. But companies’ demand for workers has also fallen, Moody said, prompting less competition for workers that would typically result in higher pay.

Consumers aren’t feeling all that optimistic about the job market either, he noted, potentially dissuading some from asking for raises, Moody said. A recent report from the Conference Board for 24.6% of consumers said jobs were “plentiful” in July, down from 25.5% in June.

The labor market remains stuck in the “low hire, low fire” environment, said Indeed’s Stahle. Some employers are “not quite sure what even the next six months are going to look like,” Stahle said, particularly as they assess how quickly AI could reshape their industries.

Inflation Worries

Wages are rising more sharply in sectors tied to the AI buildout, wrote Ed Yardeni, president at Yardeni Research. Wages in construction, information services and utility sectors—all of which are crucial to the buildout of energy-intensive data centers—are all rising faster than pay in other sectors, he noted.

Warsh appears hopeful that AI could fuel further growth, allowing the economy to expand faster than before.

There are indeed signs that productivity has been rising over the past decade, despite pandemic-era disruptions, said Regions’ Moody. Even before AI’s rollout, companies had been investing in intellectual property as they aimed to raise productivity from their existing workforce, he said.

But any potential AI-fueled productivity boom will take time, while the inflationary impacts of AI-related infrastructure buildout have already arrived, Moody said. It is one reason why some of Warsh’s colleagues are advocating for rate hikes and voted against the Fed’s decision to keep rates unchanged last month. 

“All those things are staring the Fed in the face, and what we don’t see yet is the big improvement in productivity growth due to AI,” Moody said. “That’s the battle, I think, that Chair Warsh is having with some of the members of the FOMC.”

Nebius shares have tripled in value since the start of the year
Credit: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Nebius shares popped Wednesday after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for the second quarter.
• The company also raised its year-end contracted power target.

Nebius shares could be set to add more than one-quarter of their value in a single session.

Shares of Nebius (NBIS) were up nearly 29% in recent trading to pace the Nasdaq, after the AI infrastructure firm posted second-quarter results that topped analysts’ estimates.

The Nvidia-backed (NVDA) company, whose core business is a full-stack AI cloud, reported adjusted EBITDA of $236.2 million on revenue that jumped 454% year-over-year to $582.3 million. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had expected $168.9 million and $570.7 million, respectively.

“We continue to build our future capacity pipeline through our own and co-located colocated sites, and today raise our year-end contracted power target to 5 gigawatts,” CEO Arkady Volozh said on the company’s earnings call, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense.

With Wednesday’s gains, Nebius shares have roughly tripled in value this year, though they remain about 17% off their June highs.

The Social Security Administration adjusts benefits every year to keep up with inflation.
Credit: Yasin Ozturk / Getty Images

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is estimated at 3.6%.
• A softer inflation picture nudged the estimate down from last month’s projections.
• The official COLA will be announced in October, based on inflation data from July through September.

The countdown to the next cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) announcement is winding down, and the boost could be bigger than any since 2022.

The 2027 COLA is expected to be 3.6%, up 0.8 percentage points from this year’s increase, according to the most recent estimate from The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), an advocacy group. The average beneficiary would receive about $69.75 more monthly. AARP, which began publishing its own COLA forecasts this year, projects a slightly smaller increase of 3.5%.

Why This Matters

About 75.7 million Americans receive Social Security benefits. Knowing next year’s benefit amount helps retirees plan their budgets and see whether Social Security is keeping pace with rising costs.

These are still estimates, based on the available inflation data. The Social Security Administration will announce the official COLA on Oct. 14, after September inflation data is released.

The estimated 3.6% COLA is smaller than last month’s 3.8% projection from TSCL. However, this boost would still be the biggest since the 2022 COLA announcement for benefits that went out the following year.

The Social Security Administration calculates the COLA using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

The CPI-W slowed somewhat in July, in part due to a lull in the Iran war. But gas prices rose again this month as the conflict heated up.

Forecasters expect U.S. inflation to ease in the coming months as airfares and hotel prices decline following the World Cup’s end in mid-July.

Inflation reports for the summer are the most important for beneficiaries. To calculate the COLA, the SSA compares average third-quarter (July through September) CPI-W readings against the same period a year earlier.

Cava maintained its full-year outlook for same-restaurant sales growth and new openings.
Credit: Kevin Carter / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Cava shares are surging after the restaurant chain reported strong quarterly results.
• The company said it plans to open 75 to 77 new restaurants this year, and maintained its full-year outlook.

Eaters are showing up and chowing down at Cava. 

Shares of the fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain are rising early Wednesday in the wake of the company’s latest financial results. 

Cava (CAVA) turned in year-over-year quarterly guest traffic growth of more than 5%; that helped power same-restaurant sales growth of 9%, topping the 7.4% Visible Alpha consensus. Those numbers may bode well for other companies in the sector. 

Cava reported second-quarter revenue of about $368 million, up more than 30% year-over-year and better than analysts had forecast. Earnings of 19 cents per share came in 1 cent ahead of estimates.

The company maintained its full-year outlook, expecting to open 75 to 77 new restaurants this year with same-restaurant sales growing by 4.5% to 6.5%. 

Shares of Cava were up 13% in recent trading; they were about flat for the year through yesterday’s close. 

CoreWeave shares are up nearly 50% so far this year.
Credit: Gabby Jones / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Shares of CoreWeave jumped Wednesday after the cloud computing company posted better-than-expected revenues.
• CoreWeave also gave a rosy outlook for the current quarter and raised its full-year revenue forecast.

CoreWeave shares are surging after the cloud computing provider posted quarterly results that beat Wall Street’s estimates. 

CoreWeave (CRWV) shares were up 18% in recent trading, a day after the company said its revenue more than doubled to $2.58 billion in the second quarter, above Street forecasts. CoreWeave reported a net loss of $1.14 per share, when analysts had called for a loss of $1.39 per share. 

CoreWeave’s backlog of $104 billion was about $4 billion shy of estimates, but the company said it has already added about $25 billion in new commitments to that backlog through the early part of the third quarter.

Executives said in Tuesday’s earnings call that they expect third-quarter revenue to come in between $3.45 billion to $3.6 billion, above the $3.45 billion analysts projected. For the full year, CoreWeave lifted its revenue forecast to $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion, up from $12 billion to $13 billion previously, with full-year capital expenditures projected between $35 billion and $39 billion.

JPMorgan analysts lifted their price target for the shares to $120 from $110 following the report, suggesting the results could give investors more confidence in demand. They maintained a neutral rating, however, waiting to see more evidence of improving profitability.

With Wednesday’s gains, CoreWeave shares are up nearly 50% since the start of the year.

Super Micro Computer led gainers in the S&P 500 Wednesday morning.
Credit: Samuel Boivin / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Super Micro Computer shares popped Wednesday after the server maker reported stronger-than-expected profits.
• The company’s outlook for the current quarter also exceeded analysts’ projections.

Shares of Super Micro Computer are surging after the server maker’s profits blew past estimates.

Shares of Supermicro (SMCI) were up nearly 14% in recent trading, leading gainers in the S&P 500 Wednesday. The company late Tuesday reported adjusted earnings of $1.70 per share in its fiscal fourth quarter, nearly double the 94 cents that analysts were looking for.

Supermicro—which last month warned that sales for the period would likely come in at the low end of its prior guidance of $11 billion to $12.5 billion—reported revenue of $11.1 billion.

For the current quarter, Supermicro said it expects revenue of between $14.5 billion and $15.5 billion, well above the $11.84 billion analyst consensus, along with adjusted earnings between $1.01 and $1.10 per share, also ahead of estimates.

Wednesday’s gains leave Supermicro shares up close to 25% since the start of the year.