Software beats chips as Nvidia jumps 8.7% and a wave of strong earnings ends the AI-replacement fear

The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.43% to 29,842 on a narrow, tech-only rally, with software up roughly 5% on standout reports from Okta, Salesforce and CrowdStrike, even as the July goods trade deficit widened to $118.8 billion.

Deepakshi

Kristal Research & Marketing team

28 Aug2 min

Key takeaways — AI summary

The Nasdaq 100 climbed 1.43% to 29,842 and the S&P 500 added 0.72% to 7,131, but the rally was narrow: technology gained 3.40% while every other sector fell and the equal-weight S&P 500 closed down.
Software rose roughly 5% and beat chipmakers, with Okta +28.6%, Salesforce +22.6%, CrowdStrike +20.5% and Veeva +15.2% all reporting strong quarters, suggesting AI is buying from software firms rather than replacing them.
Nvidia rose about 8.7% after giving long-term revenue guidance for the first time and flagging broadening AI demand; it reported data-centre revenue of $89 billion and, per CNBC and The Information, agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion.
The July goods trade deficit widened to $118.8 billion from $101.4 billion as business-equipment imports jumped 11.3% to $140.1 billion; Barclays trimmed its Q3 growth estimate by roughly half a point, while jobless claims fell to 203,000.
Oil rose $1.30 to $83.53 after the White House said it would not return to its June Iran terms and Iran warned of retaliation; gold slipped 0.50% to $4,580 and the 10-year Treasury yield settled at 4.670%.

Generated by Kristal AI · reviewed by the research desk

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