Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on August 20, 2025.
NYSE
U.S. equity futures were little changed on Thursday evening, after the S&P 500 registered a fresh record driven by renewed optimism around the artificial intelligence trade.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 62 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures pulled back 0.07%, while Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.09%.
Investors also parsed fresh corporate earnings in extended trading. Shares of Ulta Beauty advanced about 3% after hours following a strong full-year outlook, while Autodesk stock gained more than 10% thanks to better-than-expected guidance. Shares of Dell Technologies slipped 5% following a soft outlook for the current quarter.
Stocks are coming off a winning session, with the S&P 500 closing up 0.3% at 6,501.86 — the first time above the 6,500-mark. Earlier, the broad-based index set an all-time intraday high. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up about 0.2%. The Dow’s 45,636.90 finish was also a new record.
Better-than-expected quarterly earnings from Nvidia helped solidify investor confidence in the health of the AI trade. Although Nvidia’s earnings initially sparked some concern tied its data center business and only slightly better-than-expected revenue for the current quarter, the report helped lift peer chip stocks that initially pulled back. Nvidia stock ultimately ended the day down less than 1%.
“I think if someone is trying to ring the bell at the top for AI, they’re underestimating how quickly penetration grows. We’re probably in the first quarter or first third of that cycle for AI,” Fundstrat Global Advisors co-founder and head of research Tom Lee told CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Thursday.
Investors will now turn their attention to fresh inflation data to cap off the final trading day of August with the personal consumption expenditures index. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect that the PCE reading for July will show an increase of 0.2% for the month and 2.6% for the year.
With all three major indexes at or near record highs, the gains for the month have been solid. The 30-stock Dow is up 0.01% week to date, but it has logged a 3.4% advance in August. The S&P 500 has tallied a 0.5% increase week to date, and is up 2.6% so far this month. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added about 1% this week, which has helped boost August’s gain to 2.8%.
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