Stock Market Summary – August 12, 2025

The S & P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite pushed to record highs, each rising over 1% after the July consumer price index report showed a smaller-than-expected increase in headline inflation. The financial sector shined on Tuesday with Goldman Sachs and BlackRock reaching record highs. Goldman Sachs managed to shrug off criticism from President Donald Trump on Truth Social, and Capital One also participated in the rally, gaining nearly 4%.

Meta Platforms reported an 80 million user increase since January for its social network, Threads, with a current user base of 400 million. However, revenue contribution from Threads is not expected to be substantial as it is still in an early stage of monetization.

The financial market is premature in celebrating the end of inflation worries, according to Larry McDonald of “The Bear Traps Report.” Supercore inflation, a key indicator for the Federal Reserve, was running at 3.21% last month, higher than the 2.7% headline annual rate, indicating a possible return of inflation. McDonald suggests that this could favour hard assets and the big hedge funds are buying resources that are under the ground.

With stock valuations at historical highs, David Katz of Matrix Asset Advisors recommends a balanced approach. Matrix is focusing on undervalued areas of the market like healthcare, consumer staples, and small caps. Katz also shows interest in financial stocks, including banks.

Goldman Sachs has projected a 30% rise in the shares of Uranium Energy over the next year in response to plans to quadruple nuclear power in the U.S. The company is poised to benefit from both heightened demand and potential government investment.

Finally, AST SpaceMobile reported a 10% surge in shares as it sets to deploy 45 to 60 satellites for cellular-based broadband networks by 2026, competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The company is looking to provide services in the U.S, Europe, U.K, Japan, and Canada over the next few years. The relevant data For Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq were not mentioned in the provided articles.

Shares of Starbucks rose nearly 2% after Baird upgraded the stock to outperform, foretelling a promising turnaround under CEO, Brian Niccol. The price target was raised to $115 per share from $100, demonstrating a potential 25% increase in value. Implementing a “Green Apron” service model to enhance operations and customer service, Niccol’s strategy appears promising with more customer visits reported at test stores. The speedy service turnaround is expected to contribute significantly to Starbucks’ earnings.

A cybersecurity stock, Palo Alto Networks, has been upgraded to a buy-equivalent rating at Piper Sandler. Based on their successful “platformization” strategy, analysts predict an upswing in growth for the firm. The price target was bumped to $225 per share from $200.

Nvidia, a major player in artificial intelligence, boasts a market capitalization of around $4.5 trillion, making it the largest in the S&P 500. Their shares have skyrocketed over the past few years, with an astounding increase of 239% in 2023 and 171% in 2024. Despite this success, concerns have been voiced regarding complications with their presence in the Chinese market due to continuing U.S. and Chinese government negotiations and power limitations due to large electricity usage by data centers.

Added to these concerns, Bloomberg reported that Chinese authorities have warned companies against using Nvidia’s H20 chips and Advanced Micro Devices, stirring more tension amidst the negotiations surrounding the American chipmakers.

Also making headlines, AI startup Perplexity AI has bid a staggering $34.5 billion for Google’s Chrome browser, although it is yet to be seen how Google will respond. After last year’s antitrust ruling against Google, the U.S. Department of Justice proposed that Google should divest from Chrome. This bid occurs in the context of Perplexity’s high stakes battle in AI against competitors such as Meta and OpenAI.