Post-close recap — 2026-08-11

How the day closed

S&P 500 7,728.20, −0.32% (−24.91)
Dow 53,791.85, −0.34% (−184.13)
Nasdaq Composite 26,445.45, −0.60% (−159.91)

Second straight modest fade from Friday's record close as U.S.–Iran friction and pre-CPI positioning kept buyers cautious, with mega-cap tech doing most of the damage (Yahoo Finance, Washington Post/AP).

Sectors & breadth

Leaders: Energy topped the tape as crude firmed intraday; Plug Power +13.3% on a Q2 beat led alt-energy names (TheStreet).
Laggards: Technology and Real Estate weakest; Alphabet, Apple and Amazon all lower alongside a heavy semis tape (Yahoo Finance).
Nasdaq underperformance (−0.60% vs. −0.32% on SPX) reflects the concentration hit rather than broad selling.

Rates, FX, commodities, vol

UST 10Y: ~4.73% (+2 bp) (Trading Economics)
UST 2Y: ~4.24% (range 4.21–4.26%) (CNBC US2Y)
DXY: 99.84 (+0.03%) (Trading Economics)
WTI: $81.99 (−0.17%); Brent $88.23 (+0.55%) (Forbes, Trading Economics)
Gold: cleared $4,400/oz (Trading Economics)
Copper: $6.65/lb (+0.79%) (Trading Economics)
VIX: 15.28 (−1.16%) — vol bid absent despite the drift lower (Yahoo Finance)

Drivers & headlines

Iran overhang. Foreign Minister Araghchi said there is "no possibility of restarting negotiations" while the U.S. remains in breach of the June MoU; Trump rejected Iran's reparation demands. Offsetting: Qatar signaled Oman–Iran talks on Strait of Hormuz shipping are "at an advanced stage" (Bloomberg, TheStreet).
CPI on deck. Traders sat on hands into Wednesday's July CPI print; a weaker-than-expected jobs report Friday has September pricing back to a coin toss (Newsquawk preview).
Hawkish Fed speak. Cleveland Fed's Beth Hammack flagged that multiple rate increases may still be necessary — a hawkish counterweight to soft payrolls (Yahoo Finance).
AI capex scrutiny returns. Intel slid on a dilutive $15B stock offering to fund AI/manufacturing; Nvidia faded a morning pop despite unveiling a private-market financing consortium to mobilize $500B for AI infra (TheStreet, Bloomberg).
Energy leadership. Crude's intraday swings on Hormuz headlines kept energy the day's best performer even as WTI closed marginally lower (Trading Economics).

After-hours

CoreWeave (CRWV) +~14% AH. Q2 revenue $2.58B vs. $2.56B est., adj. EPS −$1.03 vs. −$1.20 est.; revenue +112% y/y; disclosed new Anthropic and Meta business; backlog $104B (plus >$25B in Q3 commits) (CNBC, Bloomberg).
Super Micro (SMCI) also reported post-close — read-through for AI hardware demand (Yahoo Finance).
Small-cap AH movers: NRGV +15% (revenue double, guide up), HQI +22% (staffing beat); TPC −83%, PLAG −72% on micro-cap unwinds (Stock Analysis).

Setup for tomorrow

July CPI, 8:30 ET Wed 8/12. Consensus: headline +0.1–0.2% m/m / 3.4% y/y (vs. 3.5%), core +0.2% m/m / 2.5% y/y. A hot print re-arms the hawks into the Sept 15–16 FOMC (Newsquawk, Kiplinger).
PPI Thursday rounds out the inflation set — watch services/core goods for margin read-through.
Iran/Hormuz headline risk remains the swing factor for oil; a diplomatic breakthrough would extend the energy-led rotation, a breakdown would revive the stagflation trade already visible in gold's push through $4,400.

Post-Close Recap — 2026-08-11