Chipmakers drive a narrow S&P 500 rally as crude tumbles nearly 4% on de-escalation hopes

The S&P 500 rose 0.30% to 7,676 and the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.64% to 29,209 with barely a third of stocks higher, while WTI settled $2.65 lower at $82.36 as traders read Middle East headlines as a step back from war.

Deepakshi

Kristal Research & Marketing team

26 Aug2 min

Key takeaways — AI summary

The S&P 500 added 0.30% to 7,676 and the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.64% to 29,209, but only about 180 of the S&P's 500 members were higher by late morning, with chipmakers carrying almost all of it a day before Nvidia's results.
Oil did the day's real work: West Texas crude settled $2.65 lower at $82.36 and Brent fell $3.59 to $88.58, as traders read headlines — including an unconfirmed RIA report of a near ceasefire that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz — as de-escalation; energy was the weakest sector at -1.70%.
Cheaper oil pulled yields lower, with the 10-year Treasury falling 0.06 points to 4.639% and the 30-year easing to 5.175%; a $69 billion two-year note sale drew stronger-than-average demand.
Winners included Super Micro Computer (+9.4%), Kura Oncology (+10.32% after its CEO bought 100,000 shares), Bank of Nova Scotia (+7.34% on C$10.54bn revenue), Robinhood (+8.2% as bitcoin topped $80,000) and Nvidia (+2.35%), while Dick's Sporting Goods cut full-year profit guidance to $10.94–$11.94 from $13.27–$14.27.
US data was mixed: consumer confidence slipped to 89.4 from 90.2 and new home sales fell 10.5% in July; the national debt just passed $40 trillion, with debate over the Treasury's plan to buy back long-dated debt as gold closes its strongest month since 1999.

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