4:10pm: Third straight week of gains
Wall Street ended Friday slightly lower as investors took a cautious approach near record levels, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.2% to 7,786 and pulling back from its latest high.
The Dow Jones fell 108 points, or 0.2%, to 53,732, while the Nasdaq dropped 0.3% to 26,729.
The modest declines came as surprisingly weak economic data raised concerns about the health of the US consumer, with softer spending and sentiment weighing on market confidence.
Still, the pullback was hardly enough to derail the broader rally. The S&P 500 capped its third straight week of gains, keeping Wall Street close to record territory despite growing caution over the economic outlook.
2:40pm: Proactive news headlines
- Snail Inc (NASDAQ:SNAL) has released new content across its indie game portfolio and set an August 26 launch date for a PixARK expansion, while Stoneguard has entered Steam Early Access with a “Mostly Positive” user rating.
- Dune Oil Corp (CSE:DUNE, OTCQB:TRLEF, FRA:Z620) said prospective seismic contractors completed site visits at its Gabar Block in southeastern Türkiye ahead of a planned 2D seismic survey, reviewing field conditions, logistics and equipment needs.
- Replenish Nutrients Holding Corp (CSE:ERTH, OTC:VVIVF, FRA:7KE) received gross proceeds of $104,508 in the first monthly settlement under its $1.95 million financing agreement with Sorbie Bornholm LP.
- Digi Power X Inc (NASDAQ:DGXX, FRA:1NQ0, NEO:DGX) reported second-quarter revenue of about $6.6 million, including its first $1.1 million in AI compute revenue, while investing roughly $30 million in GPU infrastructure and turning adjusted EBITDA positive at about $3.3 million.
- Touchstone Exploration Inc (AIM:TXP, TSX:TXP, OTC:PBEGF) shares jumped nearly 19% after the Trinidad-focused oil and gas producer reported a sharp improvement in second-quarter earnings and stronger early performance from its Cascadura compression project.
- London BTC Company Ltd (LSE:BTC, OTCQB:VINZF) is expanding its Nevada exploration strategy to target antimony alongside gold and silver, adding exposure to a US-designated critical mineral across its portfolio.
- Arrow Exploration Corp (TSX-V:AXL, AIM:AXL, OTC:CSTPF) has acquired a 100% working interest in the Thorsby oil property in central Alberta for C$12.15 million, marking its first producing asset outside Colombia and funded entirely from cash reserves.
1:05pm: Market movers
- Reddit Inc (NYSE:RDDT) shares surged more than 16% after the company was announced as a new addition to the S&P 500, a move expected to drive buying from index-tracking funds.
- Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT, XETRA:AP2) shares fell about 4% despite the chip equipment maker beating third-quarter revenue and profit estimates and issuing stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter guidance.
- Bitcoin is facing a potentially volatile August, with prediction markets putting the odds of the cryptocurrency reaching $65,000 at about 59% but seeing little chance of a new record.
11:45am: Workday in takeover talks
Workday Inc (NASDAQ:WDAY) (Workday Inc (NASDAQ:WDAY)) has held discussions with private equity firm Silver Lake in recent months about a potential acquisition, Reuters reported, with the enterprise software company carrying a market value of about $43 billion.
While talks are ongoing and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached, Jefferies analysts said they see several reasons why Silver Lake might be interested.
Following the stock's move on the news, Workday's valuation of 4 times calendar year 2027 revenue and 14 times free cash flow sits near the bottom of an already beaten-down large-cap software group.
The analysts also pointed to Workday's sticky ERP business, its trove of data valuable for AI, room to lift operating margins closer to peer levels, and a maturing AI vision under CEO Aneel Bhusri.
"While we question where Workday's next leg of growth will come from, being private might enable more aggressive AI transition and revenue reacceleration,” analysts wrote.
10:00am: Workday jumps, Reddit rallies
Wall Street is treading water to start Friday, with the major averages little changed as investors weigh a weaker-than-expected retail sales report against a fresh round of company news.
The Dow Jones is up 6 points at 53,846, while the S&P 500 has edged 3 points higher to 7,802. The Nasdaq is down 6 points at 26,797.
Consumers pulled back on spending in July, with retail sales falling 0.6% month over month, well below expectations for a 0.1% gain. Core retail sales, which exclude autos, gasoline, building materials and food services, fell 0.3%, versus estimates for a 0.2% increase.
Still, the details were not quite as gloomy as the headline. Fifth Third Commercial Bank chief economist Bill Adams noted that lower gas station sales partly reflected falling prices, while the timing of Amazon Prime Day also weighed on non-store sales. Even after accounting for those factors, however, spending was softer last month.
One bright spot was food service and drinking place sales, which rose 0.5%, potentially helped by World Cup-related spending.
On the corporate front, Workday shares are surging after Reuters reported that private-equity firm Silver Lake is in talks to acquire the business software company.
Applied Materials is heading lower after its latest earnings were judged insufficient to justify a stock that has already gained 108% in 2026.
Reddit, meanwhile, is jumping after news that the social-media platform will join the S&P 500 next week.
With the major indexes sitting near record highs, investors are looking for fresh catalysts to keep the rally going, while the retail sales data offers another reminder that higher prices and elevated borrowing costs are still weighing on parts of the US economy.
Ahead of the bell
Wall Street looks set for a calm end to the week, with US stock futures drifting close to flat on Friday.
That comes after the S&P 500 powered to a fresh record high on Thursday, buoyed by softer-than-expected inflation figures and receding worries about further Federal Reserve interest rate rises.
Futures on the benchmark index were barely budging in premarket trade.
Contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged up 0.1%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dipped just below the waterline.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were on course for weekly gains.
The mood was helped by a bright session in Asia, where South Korea's KOSPI jumped more than 1.4% and Japan's Nikkei added 0.8%.
A run of strong corporate earnings has done much of the heavy lifting for stocks lately.
With the Friday calendar looking thin, traders are already glancing ahead to next week's crop of retail results, including Target and Walmart, before Nvidia takes centre stage with its keenly awaited numbers on August 26.
Before then, investors will get a fresh read on the shopper via retail sales figures and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey.