Andy Chen

The Federal Reserve released the minutes of its July meeting on August 19, Eastern Time. At the meeting held on July 28–29, the FOMC decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.50%–3.75%. The minutes noted that some Fed officials believed monetary policy might need to be tightened if inflation fails to decline. Some participants noted that the current monetary policy rate was not sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2%.

On August 19, Eastern Time, Broadcom (AVGO) fell for the fourth consecutive trading session, dropping near a key support level of $360. Meanwhile, Marvell Technology and Google today announced a custom chip partnership, issuing warrants to Google to purchase up to 58.97 million shares at an exercise price of $206.58 per share, representing a total value of approximately $12.18 billion. The two parties signed a commercial agreement on July 29 under which Marvell will supply custom chip products to Google, with the subsequent vesting of the warrants tied to revenue generated from the partnership products.

On August 19 Eastern Time, Apple (AAPL) rose for the second consecutive trading day, with its stock price returning to near $315. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index extended its weakness, showing a renewed short-term divergence between Apple and the chip sector.

Weighed down by the U.S. 30-year Treasury yield hitting a 19-year high and rising oil prices, the three major U.S. stock indexes all came under pressure. Semiconductor stocks led the losses, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index falling by around 5% and memory chip stocks tumbling. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.22% to 53,343.40 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.33% to 26,289.71 points; and the S&P 500 Index dropped 0.69% to 7,691.76 points.

Anthropic is reportedly planning to expand its revolving credit facility to over $10 billion to secure ample liquidity ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO). Sources familiar with the matter said the company's original financing target was around $10 billion, but several banks are offering higher commitments to compete for prominent IPO underwriting roles, though the final facility size may still end up near or even below the initial target.

Nvidia (NVDA) recently announced a strategic partnership with SB Energy to provide a credit guarantee of up to $105 billion for the PORTS-Pike Technology Park in Ohio. The site will be developed into a hyperscale data center dedicated to Nvidia's AI computing infrastructure, with OpenAI serving as the sole tenant.

On August 18 Eastern Time, SanDisk (SNDK) shares fell back below $1,700, snapping a six-day winning streak. According to the latest NAND Flash industry research report by TrendForce, AI server procurement momentum remained steady in the second quarter of 2026. Robust demand for enterprise SSDs in pa

On August 18 Eastern Time, Home Depot (HD) released its second-quarter fiscal 2026 financial results before the US market open. During the period, Home Depot's net sales grew 5.7% year-over-year to $47.861 billion, exceeding market expectations of $47.24 billion. Following the earnings release, Home Depot's stock bucked the market trend to trade higher, rising 1.01% to $341.30 as of press time.

The US-Iran ceasefire agreement expired on Monday as negotiations reached a deadlock, while the 30-year US Treasury yield hit a new high since 2007, both of which weighed on US equities. All three major indexes fell, while AI hardware stocks bucked the trend to strengthen, with memory and optical communication stocks leading the gains. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.51% to 53,459.78; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.32% to 26,644.91; and the S&P 500 Index lost 0.52% to 7,745.06.

Amazon's (AMZN) stock price has experienced a continuous pullback since reaching an all-time high of $287.20 on August 3, currently falling below $260. In his latest report, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak assigned a price target of $335 for Amazon, implying a 30% upside potential from current levels, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. He noted that if Amazon's AWS business continues to grow along its expected trajectory, the stock could reach $500 by the end of 2027.

On August 17, Eastern Time, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a proposed rule seeking public comment on the implementation of the GENIUS Act to establish a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, with a 60-day public comment period.

Nvidia (NVDA) announced that it will provide up to $105 billion in credit support for a large-scale AI data center campus being built for OpenAI in Pike County, Ohio, and invest $1.5 billion in project developer SB Energy. The project will be constructed, owned, and operated by SoftBank-backed SB Energy, with OpenAI serving as the primary tenant under a 20-year lease.

On August 17, Eastern Time, Cerebras Systems (CBRS) surged 15% in a single day, breaching the $250 mark. Wedbush Securities stated in its latest research report that OpenAI disclosed the Ultrafast mode of GPT-5.6 Sol will be powered by compute capacity from Cerebras, indicating that collaboration between the two parties continues to make positive progress.

On August 13, Eastern Time, Oracle (ORCL) shares closed at $156.22, after touching an intraday high of $159.26. Since hitting a recent low of $114.50 on July 28, the company's stock has rebounded rapidly. Based on the August 13 closing price, the cumulative gain during this period reached approximately 36.4%, reclaiming the $150 mark. Even using $150 as a periodic benchmark, the rebound exceeds 30%, indicating that market pessimism surrounding its AI infrastructure business is beginning to ease.

SpaceX (SPCX) shares approached the $150 mark during intraday trading on August 12, Eastern Time. Just recently, the stock had dipped to a period low of $104.83 in early August; as of the close on August 12, it has rebounded by approximately 35%.

The S&P 500 Index pulled back slightly after hitting a record high yesterday, with all three major stock indexes edging lower. Memory stocks bucked the trend to gain, while select optical communication stocks moved higher. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.20% to 53,732.41; the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.28% to 26,729.16; and the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.17% to 7,785.76.

Financing risks behind Broadcom's AI expansion are drawing market concern. On August 14, Eastern Time, Broadcom's (AVGO) stock price fell below the $400 mark. Bank of America analyst Tom Curcuruto reportedly downgraded Broadcom's issuer and bond ratings, with the primary concern stemming from the AI XPV financing platform it co-established with Apollo and Blackstone.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he is encouraged by the recent cooling in inflation, but noted that similar improvements must continue over the coming months to confirm that inflation is moving back toward the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

As US inflation, employment, and consumption data continue to cool, market expectations for a Fed rate hike in September are rapidly receding. Currently, the probability of a September rate hike has dropped to around 30%. Jeremy Siegel, senior economist at WisdomTree and finance professor at the Wharton School, stated that as long as oil prices remain stable near $80 per barrel, the Fed will most likely not raise rates in September. Meanwhile, US stocks have begun pricing in "soft landing" expectations. The S&P 500 Index surpassed 7,800 points for the first time, with cooling inflation, corporate earnings growth, and AI-driven efficiency gains jointly driving a rebound in risk appetite.

US stock 13F filings have been released recently, disclosing the second-quarter holdings of Wall Street investment banks such as Morgan Stanley and UBS. Notably, the reports show that Micron (MU) was among the top five increased positions for both banks.