Weekly Market Recap | Aug 24 – Aug 30

Analyst Highlights

Treasury yields remain a key market pressure: Warsh’s Jackson Hole remarks pushed two-year yields higher as persistent inflation kept tighter policy in focus.
Inflation remains above the Fed’s comfort zone: PCE inflation held at 3.7%, while core inflation remained elevated at 3.3%.
The US labor market remains resilient: Initial jobless claims fell to 203,000 and continuing claims dropped below 1.78 million.
Underlying economic demand remains stronger than headline growth: GDP held at 1.5%, while private domestic demand expanded a much stronger 4.2%.
AI spending continues to support large-cap markets: Nvidia’s record quarter and Amazon’s GPU commitment reinforced confidence in sustained infrastructure investment.
Geopolitical risks remain elevated: US-Iran tensions, Canada’s tariff retaliation and renewed Russian pressure on Ukraine added uncertainty across global markets.

Inflection Point Acquisition VIII (NASDAQ: IPHXU) — Priced its IPO at $10.00 per share, offering 25 million shares and raising approximately $250 million, August 28.
Rainier Acquisition (NASDAQ: RNAQU) — Raised approximately $75 million through the sale of 7.5 million shares at $10.00 each on August 27.
JATT III Acquisition (NASDAQ: JTTT) — Completed a $60 million IPO, offering 6 million shares at $10.00 each on August 26.
Southern Cross Acquisition II (NASDAQ: SCATU) — Raised approximately $75 million with an offering of 7.5 million shares priced at $10.00 on August 26.
Advasa Holdings (NASDAQ: ADBT) — Made its Nasdaq debut on August 25 with a $10.00 reference price and approximately 94.1 million shares listed.

S&P 500 closed at 7,711.76, rising 37.39 points, or 0.49%, for the week.
Russell 1000 closed at 4,201.01, rising 14.57 points, or 0.35%, for the week.
Russell 2000 closed at 2,972.37, falling 45.50 points, or 1.51%, for the week.
Russell 3000 closed at 4,383.34, rising 11.80 points, or 0.27%, for the week.
CBOE (VIX) closed at 43, falling 0.70 points, or 4.63%, for the week.
Dow Jones closed at 53,559.99, rising 282.98 points, or 0.53%, for the week.
NASDAQ IXIC closed at 26,402.42, rising 221.96 points, or 0.85%, for the week.
Bitcoin closed at $77,830.29, falling $504.90, or 0.64%, for the week.
Ethereum closed at $2,442.54, falling $72.74, or 2.89%, for the week.
Solana closed at $104.13, rising $10.48, or 11.19%, for the week.
XRP closed at $1.3832, falling $0.0706, or 4.86%, for the week.
Gold closed at $4,478.10, falling $146.00, or 3.16%, for the week.
Silver closed at $66.995, falling $2.471, or 3.56%, for the week.
WTI Crude Oil closed at $83.40, falling $3.66, or 4.20%, for the week.
Brent Crude Oil closed at $89.31, falling $5.08, or 5.38%, for the week.

Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech kept rate hikes in play, lifting two-year Treasury yields to 4.35% as inflation concerns persisted.
July PCE inflation remained 3.7% year-over-year, with core inflation at 3.3%, reinforcing the Fed’s concern over persistent price pressures.
US jobless claims fell to 203,000, below expectations, while continuing claims dropped below 1.78 million, signaling limited layoffs.
US second-quarter GDP held at 1.5%, while private domestic demand grew 4.2%, indicating stronger underlying economic momentum.
Treasury buybacks helped steady long-term bonds, but persistent fiscal concerns kept investors skeptical that intervention could durably suppress yields.
Nvidia reported record $96.2 billion quarterly revenue and forecast 70% growth next fiscal year, reinforcing confidence in the AI-driven equity trade.
Gold and Bitcoin ETFs attracted a record $7 billion over five trading days as fiscal concerns revived the scarcity trade.

Canada retaliated against new US tariffs with levies up to 50% on roughly $20 billion of American goods beginning September 8.
Washington launched Operation Economic Outcast, sanctioning 60+ Iran-linked targets and threatening penalties against companies trading with Tehran.
US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers near Hormuz, reigniting Gulf tensions as Tehran threatened retaliation and missiles toward Jordan were intercepted.
Russia prepared to intensify missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian targets after Kremlin-linked sources said peace talks had reached dead end.
Ukraine’s 2027 war-financing gap widened, increasing pressure on European partners as Kyiv’s negotiations with donors over additional funding dragged on.
Russia tested its military’s readiness for another mass mobilization, though the Kremlin had not yet decided whether to call more recruits.
The Supreme Court removed a hurdle to Trump’s mail-ballot directive, while fresh litigation kept election rules unsettled ahead of November’s midterms.

Amazon agreed to deploy another two million Nvidia GPUs across AWS in 2027–28, underscoring the scale of hyperscaler AI infrastructure spending.
OpenAI said its Broadcom-built Jalapeño inference chip beat Nvidia’s GB300 in power efficiency and response speed, strengthening its in-house hardware push.
Nvidia’s supplier commitments reached $279 billion as it raced to secure scarce memory and capacity, increasing its exposure if AI demand slows.
Nvidia was reportedly nearing a roughly $13 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, expanding deeper into open-source AI software and model distribution.
Nvidia deepened its robotics push as Chinese companies increasingly adopted its chips and software for humanoid systems and other physical AI applications.

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