Dow Slips as Nasdaq Closes at Fresh Record; Tesla Leads Tech Stocks Higher

The Biggest S&P 500 Movers on Friday

1 hr 25 min ago

Advancers:

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) jumped 16.7%, logging the best performance in the S&P 500 for the second straight day. The surge in the stock followed reports that fellow media and entertainment rival Paramount Skydance (PSKY) is planning a cash takeover bid. Paramount Skydance shares also pushed higher following the report, adding another 7.6% Friday.
Tesla (TSLA) shares powered 7.4% higher on Friday, also adding to strong gains posted in the prior session, amid expectations of a rate cut by the Fed. While questions remain about the trajectory of the company’s electric vehicle sales, CEO Elon Musk suggested earlier this month that Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot business could eventually account for the lion’s share of Tesla’s value. This week, the company also unveiled its Megablock, its latest industrial energy storage product aimed at lowering costs and streamlining installations of large-scale energy projects.
Like other top performers in the benchmark index, shares of Micron Technology (MU) extended a strong Thursday rally into the week’s final trading session, gaining 4.4% on Friday and notching an all-time closing high. The move higher for Micron followed a price target boost from analysts at Citi, who highlighted strong demand for the data storage provider’s dynamic random-access memory chips as well as its exposure to artificial intelligence.

Decliners:

Arista Networks (ANET) shares sank 8.9%, suffering the S&P 500’s heaviest loss, as the computer networking specialist held its analyst day. The company guided for 20% revenue growth in fiscal 2026 driven by solid AI demand, prompting several investment analyst firms to raise their price targets on Arista stock. However, one sticking point may have been Arista’s forecast for long-term operating margins, which the company pegged below fiscal 2025 levels.
Shares of vaccine maker Moderna (MRNA) plunged 7.4%, while Pfizer (PFE) dropped 4% in the wake of a report that health officials from the Trump administration intend to link the deaths of 25 children to COVID-19 vaccinations.
Following a torrid post-earnings rally on Wednesday, Oracle (ORCL) shares retreated for the second straight session, sliding 5.1% on Friday. While the enterprise software giant’s announcement of a massive AI-driven backlog contributed to the enthusiasm around Oracle stock earlier in the week, along with reports of a $300 billion deal with ChatGPT creator OpenAI, analysts have expressed concerns about a large chunk of Oracle’s growth being tied to a small number of clients.

-Michael Bromberg

Gemini Stock Pares Big Gains in Latest Hot Crypto IPO

2 hr 58 min ago

Shares of Gemini (GEMI) popped on their trading debut, then gave up some ground.

The crypto exchange’s stock, which opened at $37—well above its $28 IPO price—recently traded around $33, off earlier highs near $46. Twin brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the company’s founders, rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq in New York City Friday wearing t-shirts picturing a rocket in space.

Gemini, founded in 2014, set its IPO price overnight, arriving above an already-boosted expected range of $24 to $26. The company, officially known as Gemini Space Station, sold 15.1 million Class A shares, fewer than previously expected, but at a higher price. The deal raised $425 million, according to the company.

“While we’ve accomplished much in the first 10 years, we feel like we’re just getting started,” Tyler Winklevoss said in prepared remarks.

Gemini secured a $50 million private placement investment from Nasdaq, in recent days raised its IPO range, and saw strong demand for the shares: Reuters reported Thursday that demand for the shares was more than 20 times higher than shares available.

Its public debut follows those of other big crypto names like stablecoin operator Circle (CRCL) and institution-focused digital assets platform Bullish (BLSH).

Gemini operates one of the better known crypto exchanges in the U.S., has a credit card that offers crypto rewards and a stablecoin. Though Gemini’s trading volumes are a fraction of the U.S.’s largest crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), the company said it sees untapped potential in tokenization and card payments for its future growth.

Most of the company’s revenue comes from transaction fees on trading activity. It had total revenue of $68.6 million for the six months ended in June, with transaction fees accounting for over 65%.

-Crystal Kim

Adobe Says AI Sales Are Coming in Strong. Wall Street’s Not Yet Convinced

3 hr 39 min ago

Adobe (ADBE) just reported record quarterly revenue driven by artificial intelligence gains, but the results may be doing little to revive confidence in the stock.

The creative software giant late Thursday posted adjusted earnings per share of $5.31 on revenue that jumped 11% year-over-year to a record $5.99 billion in the fiscal third quarter, above analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha, as AI revenues topped company targets.

CEO Shantanu Narayen said that with the third-quarter’s revenue driven by AI, Adobe has already surpassed its “AI-first” revenue goals for the year, leading the company to boost its outlook. The company said it now anticipates full-year adjusted earnings of $20.80 to $20.85 per share and revenue of $23.65 billion to $23.7 billion, up from adjusted earnings of $20.50 to $20.70 on revenue of $23.50 billion to $23.6 billion previously.

Adobe shares have had a tough year so far, with the stock down more than 20% for 2025 through Thursday’s close amid worries about the company’s AI progress and growing competition. They were down another 0.2% in afternoon trading on Friday.

Wall Street is optimistic. The shares were trading around $350 on Friday, and the mean price target as tracked by Visible Alpha, above $461, represents a more than 30% premium. Most of the analysts tracking the stock have “buy” ratings.

But even that target represents a degree of caution in the context of recent highs. The shares were above $600 in February 2024.

-Kara Greenberg

Tesla’s Rising Stock Is Moving Toward Break-Even for 2025

4 hr 46 min ago

Tesla’s stock is on the rise.

Shares of the electric vehicle maker, up 10% this month through Thursday’s close—and up another 6% so far today—are on a roll. Though it’s been bumpy, Tesla (TSLA) stock has climbed off year-to-date lows around $222, seen in March, and is approaching break-even. (The stock, which finished last year near $404, was recently around $394.)

The recovery is notable for a stock that, as of the end of the first half of the year, was the laggard of the Magnificent 7. It was one of only two companies in the big-tech grouping in the red, Apple (AAPL) being the other, also tailing all three major U.S. indexes. (The Roundhill ETF that tracks the Magnificent 7 group, known as “MAGS,” is up about 14% this year.)

The stock has likely been boosted by factors that have lifted stocks broadly. Investors widely expect the Federal Reserve to cut rates next week, a move generally seen as beneficial to big tech companies. Strong second-quarter earnings growth has offered a measure of optimism to investors attempting to gauge the strength of the economy. (Though there’s plenty of concern on that score, too.)

But Tesla-specific factors also seem to be lifting the shares. Despite wariness about the health of the company’s EV business, some investors appear willing to pay up for the possibility of a big opportunity in robotics, as well as for signs of progress in autonomous driving at both Tesla and more widely. A costly public feud between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, while not extending valuable EV credits, has apparently cooled.

And Tesla’s board has offered CEO Elon Musk a pay package that could remove a “Will he stick around?” overhang from the company’s outlook—albeit at a high price. (Further enthusiasm for the stock may be attributed to what some see as potential for a “short squeeze” in which investors who traded against the shares have to buy it as it rises to cover short bets.)

Wall Street analysts don’t appear ready to climb aboard en masse. Visible Alpha tracks about as many combined bearish and neutral ratings as bull calls, while its mean price target around $327 is substantially below current levels. Investors are, nevertheless, driving ahead.

-David Marino-Nachison

RH Stock Sinks as Furniture Retailer Says Tariffs Hurt Results, Outlook

5 hr 44 min ago

Shares of RH (RH) fell Friday, a day after the upscale furniture and home accessories retailer posted weaker-than-expected results and lowered its guidance on uncertainty about the impact of tariffs.

The company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.93 on revenue that rose 8% year-over-year to $899.2 million. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for $3.22 and $904.6 million, respectively.

RH said its performance was hurt by “the polarizing impact of tariff uncertainty and the worst housing market in almost 50 years.” A bright spot was its RH Gallery location in England, which saw demand up 76%, and online demand 34% higher.

The company noted that because of the tariffs, it has continued to move production out of China, and was now “aggressively responding” to the 50% duties the Trump administration has slapped on imports from India, which constitutes 7% of RH’s business. In addition, the company has increased operations at its North Carolina plant. 

RH explained that both macroeconomic uncertainties and its belief that inflation will increase significantly the rest of this year and next have led it to revise its outlook. The company now sees full-year adjusted EBITDA margin of 19% to 20%, down from the previous forecast of 20% to 21%. It anticipates revenue growth of 9% to 11%, compared to the earlier estimate of 10% to 13%.

RH shares were down 4% in recent trading and have lost about 45% of their value year-to-date.

-Bill McColl

Big Bank Executives Sound Off Ahead of Next Week’s Rate Decision

6 hr 38 min ago

Those who track economic data like sports box scores got a doubleheader this week. Inflation rose to its highest level since January, and the U.S. economy added far fewer jobs last year than previously thought, according to a pair of Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

Meanwhile, the market is bracing for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates for the first time this year when it meets next week. It’s been a busy week, and the CEOs of the Big Banks had a lot to say about it.

“I think the economy is weakening,” JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon said in an appearance on CNBC. “Whether it’s on the way to recession or just weakening, I don’t know.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated the U.S. economy added 911,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months through March 2025 than previously reported. The revision, while normal for the bureau as it gathers more information over time, was the largest preliminary adjustment on record, going back to 2000. 

Dimon said the Fed will “probably” lower interest rates when it meets Tuesday and Wednesday next week, but he noted that the widely expected adjustment may “not be consequential to the economy.”

Get the full story on what big bank executives think of the economy here.

-Andrew Kessel

Supermicro Stock Rises as Server Maker Begins Shipping Nvidia Blackwell Products

7 hr 35 min ago

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) shares gained on Friday as the computer hardware maker announced it was delivering products with Nvidia’s (NVDA) high-speed Blackwell Ultra chips for artificial intelligence computing.

The company explained that the Blackwell chips were in Supermicro’s Plug-and-Play (PnP)-ready NVIDIA HGX B300 systems and GB300 NVL72 racks.

Supermicro added that its total solution with the Blackwell chips is “fully integrated to combine the hardware with infrastructure software and application software, including NVIDIA AI Enterprise, NVIDIA Blueprints, and NVIDIA NIM to bring optimized AI performance to these powerful systems.”

Supermicro CEO Charles Liang said that his firm “has the best track record of fast and successful deployments of new NVIDIA technologies.”

Shares of Super Micro Computer advanced 3% Friday morning and are up nearly 50% this year. Nvidia shares edged higher in recent trading and have added a third of their value in 2025.

-Bill McColl

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Extends Surge on Paramount Skydance Takeover Reports

8 hr 35 min ago

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shot up for a second straight session Friday on reports rival Paramount Skydance (PSKY) was preparing to make a bid to take over its media rival.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the story, saying the deal was backed by the Ellison family. David Ellison is Paramount Skydance CEO, and his father is Oracle (ORCL) co-founder and billionaire Larry Ellison.

The newspaper noted that Paramount’s majority cash bid would be for all of Warner Bros. Discovery, including its cable networks and movie studio. It added that an offer hasn’t yet been made, and the plans could fall apart.

Warner Bros. Discovery shares closed 29% higher yesterday following the initial report, and were up a further 10% soon after the opening bell. Paramount Skydance shares advanced more than 3% Friday morning. Both are significantly higher this year.

In June, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it intended to split into two companies, one made up of its studios and HBO Max streaming service, while the other would own its cable channels like CNN and TNT. The Journal pointed out that the move by Paramount was aimed at pre-empting a potential bidding war for Warner’s studios and streaming service. 

Paramount Skydance was created last month after David Ellison’s Skydance Media completed its $8 billion takeover of Paramount Global.

-Bill McColl

Stock Futures Mostly Lower to Round Out Week Near Record Highs

9 hr 30 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down about 0.2% in premarket trading on Friday.

S&P 500 futures were off less than 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up about 0.1%.