Nasdaq Clinches New Record On Big Tech’s IV Drip, Inflation Data Looming…

Diamond hands, baby…

Well friends, the Nasdaq closed at a record 21,798.70 on Monday, because as we found out last week… investor math comes out to bad jobs data plus an upcoming inflation print equals “send it.” Additionally, the S&P 500 and the Dow both tagged along, as the real juice came from chips. Case in point: Broadcom popped +3.2% and Nvidia clawed back +0.7%after its August faceplant. Amazon (+1.51%) and Microsoft  (+0.65%) also floated higher, proving once again that the only thing keeping this market vertical is the Big Tech IV drip.

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So what fueled today's hopium? Well, in case you missed it, Friday’s limp August jobs report gave Wall Street permission to dream of a Fed rate cut later this month… maybe even a half-pointer if Jay Powell feels extra zesty. CME FedWatch odds are now basically screaming 97% for a cut, so traders are pricing in “free money, again.” In the meantime, everyone’s just refreshing CPI and PPI calendars like degens waiting for a “Kelce bodybags another teammate” parlay to hit. 

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Meanwhile, Tesla is trying to bribe shareholders into pretending they still believe in Elon long-term with a new… *checks notes*... $975 billion pay plan. Of course, Elon has made it clear he could give two sh*ts about EVs anymore… but Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas called it a “good deal,” which really just means: don’t ask questions, just vote yes. Keep in mind, Tesla stock is still down -8.6% YTD, but rallied +15% last quarter… a.k.a, proving once again that even cult stocks need stimulus checks from time to time.

Elsewhere, Fortrea dumped -11% as momentum traders realized trees don’t grow in the sky (see: reality would like a word after a +10% mooning on Friday). Cinemark scored a +6% boost thanks to The Conjuring: Last Rites, which pulled in $83M and became its second-biggest horror opening ever. (AMC bagholders are seething.) Oh, and Etsy ripped +7.6% on a new CTO hire while EchoStar went vertical +19% after agreeing to sell spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $17B in exchange for ElonBucks (aka SpaceX shares). T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon instantly puked ~2% each, because telecom is allergic to fun.

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So yeah, it twas a mixed bag individually, but overall, the market took names today. For now, we are all stuck waiting for the sphincter clenching inflation data to show up on Friday. If CPI comes in “not too hot, not too cold,” expect more record highs. If it comes in spicy, Big Tech’s levitation trick might end up seeing what “F around and find out” really means. Translation: Enjoy the melt-up 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 in T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla as mentioned in the article.