S&P 500 books a fresh record closing high

The S&P 500 finished with a record close on Wednesday, up 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2% and the Russell 2000 outperformed with a 0.6% advance.

Your Evening Briefing August 27, 2025 S&P 500 books a fresh record closing high The S&P 500 finished with a record close on Wednesday, up 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2% and the Russell 2000 outperformed with a 0.6% advance.  However, S&P 500 futures turned red after a negative knee-jerk reaction to Nvidia's Q2 earnings report ahead of the conference call with analysts. Energy was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, up more than 1% while health care and industrials were the only (very modest) groups to finish in the red. Gains on the day were led by Albemarle, which jumped 7.5% after Bank of America reiterated its "buy" rating on the stock and set an $84 price target. Declines were led in part by J.M. Smucker, which fell 4.3% after the pantry giant's fiscal Q1 results undershot Wall Street expectations. Elsewhere… MongoDB jumped 38% after the database software company posted much better-than-expected fiscal Q2 results before-the-bell on Wednesday. Kohl's shares surged 24% after the department store chain posted blowout second-quarter earnings and tightened its full-year forecast. Canada Goose shares soared 16.1% following reports that controlling shareholder Bain Capital is exploring a sale of the luxury parka maker. American Eagle shares rebounded, climbing 8.6% after announcing a collaboration with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (aka Taylor Swift's fiancé) through his Tru Kolors clothing brand. Meanwhile, Signet Jewelers gained 6.3%, extending Tuesday's brief pop on the stars' engagement news. Cracker Barrel shares jumped 8% after the Southern-themed restaurant chain switched its logo back to the original design following a flood of backlash from fans. Krispy Kreme shares fell 3.5% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to "underweight" (sell) from "neutral," citing doubts about the company's turnaround strategy. Abercrombie & Fitch shares dipped 1.3% after the mall retailer posted a Q2 beat and hiked its full-year forecast, while warning of a bigger tariff hit. PayPal shares fell in premarket trading but closed largely flat following reports that the fintech company faced payment disruptions in Germany. — Luke Kawa, Markets Editor & Nia Warfield, Markets Writer Existing homes are now more expensive than new ones... That's not normal. This housing market is frozen, weird, and a nightmare for homebuilders. Read more. China is driving renewable energy growth globally — it's also the world's biggest coal producer As the US pulls back on wind and solar investments, China is going all in on both clean energy and carbon-emitting sources. Read more. POST-MARKET MOVE Nvidia slides after Q2 data center sales miss estimates Nvidia's second-quarter results are out, and it's a top and bottom-line beat: However, you'll note that the sales beat is not due to any positive surprise in its data center business, which modestly missed expectations. The knee jerk reaction: the stock is sliding. Read more. US box factories are folding fast They say it's because of tariffs. But it could set the business up for a profitable pop if demand is a smidge better-than-expected. Frank Holmes, executive chairman of HIVE Digital Technologies, on the overlap between bitcoin and AI "Bitcoin miners were the stepping stone for the AI business." CrowdStrike sinks after hours following the release of its second-quarter earnings CrowdStrike posted earnings of $0.93 per share, better than the $0.83 earnings per share analysts expected. As Tesla and Google's Waymo move forward with autonomous driving, Americans want guardrails Most Americans still wouldn't ride in a robotaxi. Morgan Stanley counts Amazon's data center square footage to explain why its cloud business will boom A look at Morgan Stanley's formula for how data center square footage translates into revenues. President Trump mistakenly claims Meta is spending $50 billion on Louisiana data center Meta, in a smart diplomatic move, didn't correct him. Facing a key year-end deadline, OpenAI negotiations with Microsoft might drag into 2026 OpenAI risks losing a $10 billion investment from SoftBank if it does not convert to a for-profit public benefit corporation by the end of the year, raising the stakes for a difficult negotiation. Nakamoto launches $5 billion ATM program to buy bitcoin The company's stock plummeted as investors digested the news on Wednesday. Three recent Meta Superintelligence Labs hires have already reportedly left After Meta lured AI researchers with job offers worth hundreds of millions to join its Superintelligence Labs, at least three recent hires have already left, including two who returned to OpenAI.  Was this email forwarded to you? Don't miss out on future stories — subscribe to The Wrap and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox.  Craving more insights in your inbox? Subscribe to Chartr and Snacks for quality reads. We care what you think! If you have any feedback or comments, feel free to reply and let us know your thoughts!  Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more Sherwood Terms and Conditions Our Editorial Standards Contact Us Advertise With Us Unsubscribe Privacy Policy