Post-close recap — 2026-08-14

How the day closed

S&P 500 7,785.76, -0.17% — slipped from Thursday's record after weak retail sales and a UMich sentiment shock, but still booked a third straight weekly gain (Yahoo Finance).
Nasdaq Composite 26,729.16, -0.28% — dragged by chips (AVGO -5.9%, AMAT weak into the print).
Dow 53,732.41, -0.20%.
Russell 2000 3,068.42, +0.51% — fresh record close, benefitting from the dovish rates repricing (TheStreet).

Winners: Energy, Real Estate and Materials led; Communication Services +1.6% on the Reddit spike; Semis mixed (Micron up on AI, AVGO/AMAT down).
Losers: Technology and Healthcare weighed on the tape.
Breadth: Small caps outperformed large caps by ~70bp — a classic soft-data / dovish-Fed reflex.
Single names: Reddit +12.6% on S&P 500 inclusion news; SanDisk +7% on its bullish Investor Day; Globant -12.6% on a weak Q2; Range Resources -7.3% on nat-gas softness (Yahoo/Zacks).

UST 10Y: 4.67% (+5 bp) — rose despite soft data as long-end supply/inflation-expectations digestion dominated.
UST 2Y: 4.167% (+2 bp) — curve steepened ~3 bp on the day.
DXY: 99.61 (-0.36%) — dollar softer on rising Sept cut odds (TradingEconomics).
WTI: ~$81.27/bbl, ~flat.
Gold: spot ~$4,342/oz, +2.4% — best haven bid of the week on the dovish repricing (SunSirs).
VIX: 14.39 — fourth consecutive weekly decline, longest streak since May 2025.

July Retail Sales cratered -0.6% m/m vs +0.1% expected — steepest drop since May 2025; both control-group and ex-auto missed (Yahoo).
UMich preliminary sentiment collapsed to 51 (vs 55 exp, 55.2 prior); year-ahead inflation expectations ticked up to 4.3% from 4.2% — the "stagflation-lite" combo that spooked equities in the afternoon.
Thursday's soft PPI (flat m/m) kept fuel under the September cut trade — CME odds sit >90% for a 25 bp cut per CNN/Reuters-tracked pricing.
S&P Dow Jones added Reddit to the S&P 500 effective Monday 8/18, replacing AvalonBay (being acquired) (Forbes). RDDT +12.6% RTH, more in AH.
Chips wobbled — Broadcom -5.9% and pre-print de-risking in AMAT weighed on the SOX even as AI infrastructure names elsewhere held up.

Applied Materials (AMAT): Beat FQ3 with EPS $3.50 (est. $3.40) on revenue $9.12B (est. $8.99B); guided FQ4 revenue to $10.25B ±$500M vs $9.54B consensus and raised CY26 semi-systems growth outlook to >30% on "unprecedented" AI demand. Shares -5%+ AH to ~$506.50 as investors focused on near-term margins (Investing.com, Benzinga).
Reddit extended gains after hours on the index-inclusion news ahead of Monday's forced-buying flow.

Big-box retail earnings dominate: Home Depot, Walmart, Target, Lowe's, Deere all report Aug 18–20 — the corporate cross-check on today's ugly retail sales / sentiment prints. If they echo the consumer weakness, the soft-landing narrative gets tested.
Fed calendar: FOMC minutes mid-week, then Jackson Hole Aug 27–29 (Chair Warsh's first keynote as chair on Fri 8/28) — Powell/Warsh handoff messaging is the biggest macro event of the month.
RDDT S&P 500 inclusion trades Monday 8/18; Nvidia earnings Aug 26 are the next AI-cycle catalyst.