Andy Chen

U.S. stocks fell after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh expressed concern over current inflation trends earlier today. Cloud service providers (CSPs) bucked the trend to gain, while the optical communications sector led the losses. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.02% to 53,559.99; the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.52% to 26,402.42; and the S&P 500 Index declined 0.25% to 7,711.76.

On August 28, Eastern Time, Amazon (AMZN) bucked the market trend, rising over 4% intraday to lead the gains among the Mag 7. Evercore ISI stated that a recent consumer survey shows artificial intelligence is changing how users shop on Amazon. The firm believes that AI agent tools such as Alexa AI not only help consumers find intended products faster, but may also generate purchasing demand that did not previously exist.

On August 28 Eastern Time, spot gold (XAUUSD) plummeted by about 3%, breaking below the $4,500 mark to hit its lowest level since August 20. The main catalyst was a hawkish policy signal delivered by Federal Reserve Chair Warsh at the Jackson Hole annual symposium. Warsh explicitly stated that recent inflation data is not yet sufficient to prove that price pressures have substantially eased, while reaffirming that the 2% inflation target remains "unwavering and non-negotiable."

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a speech at the Fed's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He stated that the overall performance of the US economy has been impressive, even showing signs of strengthening recently. Corporate capital expenditure, S&P 500 earnings, consumer spending, and the labor market have all remained resilient, but inflation remains well above the Fed's 2% target.

Shares of Marvell Technology (MRVL) fell more than 3% at one point after the company reported its second-quarter fiscal 2027 financial results on August 27, Eastern Time. As of press time, the stock was still down 2.17% at $236.20. During the period, Marvell's revenue grew 37% year-over-year and 13% quarter-over-quarter to a record $2.739 billion, topping market expectations of around $2.71 billion and exceeding the midpoint of the company's guidance issued on May 27 by approximately $39 million.

Nvidia's earnings beat expectations, boosting sentiment around AI investments. All three major U.S. stock indexes advanced, led by gains in software and cybersecurity stocks, while memory stocks underperformed the broader market. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.20% to 53,569.44; the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.57% to 26,541.35; and the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.72% to 7,730.99.

On August 27, Eastern Time, SK Hynix ADR (SKHY) held a groundbreaking ceremony for its advanced packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, officially launching the project valued at over $4 billion. The plant will be SK Hynix's first High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) advanced packaging base in the United States and serves as an important project in the U.S. push to localize critical semiconductor supply chains.

The Trump administration is considering launching a new round of broad semiconductor tariffs, potentially expanding the scope from chips themselves to chip-containing products such as laptops, gaming consoles, and data center servers. The core contradiction of this policy is that while the U.S. seeks to drive the reshoring of semiconductor manufacturing, it simultaneously relies heavily on imported high-end chips to build AI data centers. If the scope of exemptions is narrowed, both the costs and uncertainties of AI infrastructure investments could rise.

Moderna (MRNA) announced on Thursday that it intends to conduct a private offering of $2 billion in aggregate principal amount of senior convertible notes due 2032 to qualified institutional buyers. The company also plans to grant the initial purchasers an option to purchase up to an additional $300 million aggregate principal amount of notes within a 13-day period beginning on the initial issuance date. If the option is exercised in full, the total size of the offering could reach up to $2.3 billion.

After Nvidia (NVDA) released its second-quarter earnings report for fiscal year 2027 on August 26 Eastern Time, its stock price fell more than 2% at one point. As of press time, the decline narrowed to 1.24%, with the stock trading at $207.06. During the period, Nvidia's revenue grew 106% year-over-year and 18% quarter-over-quarter to $96.221 billion. The data center segment remained the primary driver of revenue growth, accounting for approximately 92% of the total revenue.

U.S. July core PCE inflation came in line with expectations, as inflation resilience reignited Federal Reserve rate hike expectations, pushing the three major U.S. stock indices slightly lower. Markets are focused on Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at the Jackson Hole annual symposium on Friday to seek trading direction ahead of the September 16 policy meeting. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.21% to 53,463.88; the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.08% to 26,130.20; and the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.02% to 7,675.70.

Anthropic has agreed to spend $45 billion over the next six years to lease data center computing capacity from AI cloud infrastructure company Nscale at its Monarch campus in West Virginia. According to people familiar with the matter, the agreement involves approximately 460 megawatts of power capacity, which is enough to meet the simultaneous electricity demand of about 345,000 U.S. households.

On August 26 Eastern Time, Micron (MU) stock fluctuated near $940, approaching the lower boundary of its ascending channel. Meanwhile, expectations of rising HBM prices continue to strengthen. TrendForce projects that despite price caps in some long-term agreements, HBM contract prices could still rise by 70% to 140% in 2027.

On August 26 ET, Meta reached a proposed settlement with attorneys general from multiple U.S. states to resolve federal lawsuits alleging that Facebook and Instagram were intentionally designed to addict minors, misled the public about platform safety, and improperly collected children's data. Driven by the news, Meta Platforms rose over 4% in early trading before the stock came under pressure. As of press time, its gain narrowed to 0.27%, trading at $571.57.

U.S. Treasury yields fell for a second consecutive day, lifting market trading sentiment, while investors awaited Wednesday's release of July PCE data and Nvidia's earnings report. All three major U.S. stock indexes advanced, with chip stocks leading the gains and consumer stocks suffering losses. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.30% to 53,577.40; the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.66% to 26,151.30; and the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.32% to 7,677.28.

On August 25, Eastern Time, SpaceX (SPCX) shares fell by only about 1% following its second post-IPO lock-up expiration on August 20, as the market absorbed the additional share supply relatively smoothly. Meanwhile, catalysts for SpaceX's stock price continue to build. JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth maintained an "Overweight" rating on SpaceX and set a price target of $240, representing an upside of about 70% from current levels.

Morgan Stanley's latest estimates show that as external sales of Google's (GOOGL) proprietary TPUs gradually scale up, Alphabet's AI chip business could become a new growth engine for Google Cloud. The firm projects that TPU-related Google Cloud revenue could reach $84 billion and $108 billion in 2027 and 2028, respectively, totaling nearly $200 billion over the two-year period.

On August 25 (ET), international oil prices fell sharply, with both WTI and Brent crude dropping by more than 3%. Rich Privorotsky, head of Goldman Sachs' hedge fund business, noted in his latest client report that the importance of oil prices this week could very well surpass that of the Jackson Hole symposium. One of the market's current focal points is the U.S. Treasury's latest moves regarding sanctions on Iran.

OpenAI said on Wednesday that engineering samples of Jalapeno, its first custom chip jointly developed with Broadcom (AVGO), have been delivered and are currently undergoing laboratory testing. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan stated that early results show Jalapeno's operating costs could be approximately 50% lower than those of common AI GPUs under typical AI workloads.

Marvell Technology (MRVL) will report its Q2 FY2027 financial results after the market close on August 27, US Eastern Time. Over the past three months, its stock price experienced a distinct surge, pullback, and rebound: reaching an all-time high of $329 on June 18, falling to a recent low of $162.90 on July 29, and subsequently rebounding to around $243 currently.