Google Wins, But a HIDDEN ROT and a Terrifying JOLT Report Has Wall Street Sweating…

Bah Gawd, that's Sundar’s music… 

Well, September didn’t start with fireworks… It started with Alphabet carrying the whole market on its back. In short, the S&P and Nasdaq caught a lift after a judge ruled Google can officially keep Chrome glued to Apple’s iPhones (sorry, Perplexity). It wasn’t a clean win though (read: Google has to flash its goodies to its rivals), but it was enough to send Alphabet up +9% and some of the market with it.

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The receipts are as follows: The Nasdaq climbed +1.03% to 21,497.73, the S&P 500 rose +0.51% to 6,448.26, while the Dow slipped 25 points to 45,271. Additionally, while Google experienced the most action its had in years, Apple rallied +4% on relief it can keep cashin’ checks and snappin’ necks to keep Google search preloaded on iPhones. Bigly. 

As for the rest of tech though, it was a mirror image of Tuesday’s sh*t show, when profit-taking took the legs out from under the summer rally. Nvidia sat out this round, down marginally (-0.09%), but Tesla (+1.44%), Broadcom (+1.39%), Meta (+0.26%), Amazon (+0.29%), and Microsoft (+0.05%) all picked up gains. Energy and banks lagged as bond yields ticked higher and growth fears resurfaced. Which, might I add… is understandable. Especially considering that Wednesday’s JOLTS data showed job openings sliding to levels rarely seen since the pandemic. Which as a result, also sharpened the market’s focus on Friday’s August payrolls report, now the make-or-break moment for investors trying to guess whether the Fed cuts in September or strings them along.

Layer in last week’s appeals court decision declaring many of Trump’s global tariffs illegal, and traders suddenly have to weigh a new scenario: the U.S. potentially refunding billions in duties while still wrestling with crippling inflation. Naturally, bond yields boomed on that very fear. 

Meanwhile, Trump be like…

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Elsewhere, the tape was littered with single-stock clinics. Macy’s soared +20.61% after trouncing earnings estimates and hiking its outlook, Campbell Soup added +7% after beating too, while Dollar Tree faceplanted -8% on piss poor guidance. Bruker plunged -11.68% on news it would dump $600 million of convertible stock into the market. Sprinklr lost -10% after its CFO announced a surprise exit despite solid results. Oh, and TG Therapeutics popped +6.6% after announcing another $100 million straight cash homie buyback authorization. 

So yes… while Alphabet got its swagger back for a day, the broader market was still stuck in no man’s land. Investors want to believe the Fed’s next move is a rate cut. The data might say otherwise. And with job numbers looming, September trading already feels like a stress test. But for now, enjoy the sugar high while it lasts. Until next time, friends…

If you read all of this, congrats for having a 10 second attention span (better than me). As always, here’s our heatmap for today.

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Tesla, Meta, and Amazon as mentioned in the article.