Oil sent yields soaring, which dragged the big names down, but AI hardware shrugged it off while Reddit shed some weight

← Sunday, August 16, 2026 · Tuesday, August 18, 2026 → · Archive

Morning brief: Greed's holding strong at 65, and Reddit got its S&P call as AI hardware beat big, but Broadcom hit a cyber snag

Market Greed Holds at 65 Ahead of Catalysts: Wall Street opens in Greed at 65 as investors position for key index rebalancing and upcoming mega-cap earnings. Reddit Surges 12.63% on S&P 500 Addition: Shares jumped after S&P Dow Jones announced the stock will join the S&P 500, sparking heavy mandatory passive fund buying. AAOI Soars 15.53% on Record AI Transceiver Beat: The optical component maker spiked after posting record Q2 sales and forecasting persistent multi-year demand for 800G AI hardware. Broadcom Drops 5.94% on VMware Cyber Risk: Shares pulled back following reports that hackers are actively exploiting a newly disclosed critical vulnerability in its VMware software. Watch Walmart Earnings for Consumer Signal: Focus shifts to Walmart reporting Thursday before open to gauge consumer health ahead of next week's crucial Nvidia earnings print.

Market Greed Holds at 65 Ahead of Catalysts

Wall Street opens in Greed at 65 as investors position for key index rebalancing and upcoming mega-cap earnings.

Reddit Surges 12.63% on S&P 500 Addition

Shares jumped after S&P Dow Jones announced the stock will join the S&P 500, sparking heavy mandatory passive fund buying.

AAOI Soars 15.53% on Record AI Transceiver Beat

The optical component maker spiked after posting record Q2 sales and forecasting persistent multi-year demand for 800G AI hardware.

Broadcom Drops 5.94% on VMware Cyber Risk

Shares pulled back following reports that hackers are actively exploiting a newly disclosed critical vulnerability in its VMware software.

Watch Walmart Earnings for Consumer Signal

Focus shifts to Walmart reporting Thursday before open to gauge consumer health ahead of next week's crucial Nvidia earnings print.

Posture: With Greed at 65 ahead of key rebalancing and earnings, we maintain a balanced posture, capturing upside while exercising discipline.

Tickers in focus: RDDT, AAOI, AVGO

Upcoming earnings

  • WMT — 2026-08-20, Before Market Open
  • CRM — 2026-08-26, After Market Close
  • NVDA — 2026-08-26, After Market Close
  • IREN — 2026-08-27, After Market Close
  • MRVL — 2026-08-27, TBD
  • WDAY — 2026-08-27, After Market Close

Evening brief: Oil sent yields soaring, which dragged the big names down, but AI hardware shrugged it off while Reddit shed some weight

Oil Surge and Yields Drag Stocks Lower: Rising crude prices pushed Treasury yields higher, pulling major benchmarks off records as investors await key retail earnings. Cerebras Surges 15.1% on OpenAI Deal: CBRS jumped 15.07% after Wedbush named its chip hardware the exclusive compute engine backing OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Ultrafast mode. SanDisk Rallies 8.9% on Bullish Target: SNDK gained 8.88% as JPMorgan reinstated coverage with a $2,250 target, spotlighting multi-year growth in AI flash memory. Reddit Drops 7.6% Ahead of S&P Entry: RDDT slid 7.63% as traders locked in profits from Friday's rally right before its official addition to the S&P 500 index. Retail Earnings and Yields in Focus: Watch tomorrow for retail earnings updates and 10-year yield stability to signal if the broader market's dip-buying returns.

Oil Surge and Yields Drag Stocks Lower

Rising crude prices pushed Treasury yields higher, pulling major benchmarks off records as investors await key retail earnings.

Cerebras Surges 15.1% on OpenAI Deal

CBRS jumped 15.07% after Wedbush named its chip hardware the exclusive compute engine backing OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Ultrafast mode.

SanDisk Rallies 8.9% on Bullish Target

SNDK gained 8.88% as JPMorgan reinstated coverage with a $2,250 target, spotlighting multi-year growth in AI flash memory.

Reddit Drops 7.6% Ahead of S&P Entry

RDDT slid 7.63% as traders locked in profits from Friday's rally right before its official addition to the S&P 500 index.

Retail Earnings and Yields in Focus

Watch tomorrow for retail earnings updates and 10-year yield stability to signal if the broader market's dip-buying returns.

Posture: Greed at 60 signals cautious optimism. We maintain a balanced posture, monitoring yields and retail earnings for entry points.

Tickers in focus: SPY, CBRS, RDDT

Upcoming earnings

  • WMT — 2026-08-20, Before Market Open
  • CRM — 2026-08-26, After Market Close
  • NVDA — 2026-08-26, After Market Close
  • IREN — 2026-08-27, After Market Close
  • MRVL — 2026-08-27, TBD
  • WDAY — 2026-08-27, After Market Close

The day's moves on the ledger

Every entry below is public and permanent. "Human call" means the desk decided; "Robot call" means the nightly model did.

  • Aug 17, 2026 · PWR — Added by the desk @ $680 · Human call
    Quanta Services — grid-construction pick-and-shovel: transmission, substations, datacenter electrical. Record $53B backlog, FY26 revenue guided ~$39.5B. Reactivated by human as energy-web member.
  • Aug 17, 2026 · PAAS — Stage change — → Buy Zone @ $48.11 · Human call
    Silver at $60 and revenue up 38%, sold off 7% on a modest cost-and-tax miss. We booked WPM at value — this is how you buy the precious-metals exposure back cheaper.
  • Aug 17, 2026 · UBER — Stage change Hold → Buy Zone @ $74.99 · Human call
    Flat since entry with the second-widest value gap on the slate at 43%, and $10B+ of free cash flow buying back stock while we wait. The robot benched it too early.
  • Aug 17, 2026 · AVGO — Stage change Hold → Buy Zone @ $392 · Human call
    Friday's 6% AI-trade flush round-tripped it to our entry with 32% to value and earnings Sept 2. VMware CVE noise doesn't touch the custom-silicon thesis — this is a buy again.
  • Aug 17, 2026 · VST — Stage change Buy Zone → Hold @ $146 · Human call
    The AI-power trade is real, but this is the weakest scorecard on the slate — shrinking revenue doesn't earn fresh-money status. The position stays; the buy badge doesn't.
  • Aug 17, 2026 · SIMO — Stage change Buy Zone → Hold @ $273 · Human call
    +18% this week and now 19% to value — the easy entry we flagged is gone. Same playbook as CCJ: hold the winner, don't chase it.
  • Aug 17, 2026 · MU — Stage change Buy Zone → Hold @ $1,012 · Human call
    Memory is ripping — +17% in a week ate most of our discount and left 15% to value. That's a hold, not a fresh buy; SanDisk's investor day is exactly why we're not selling either.
  • Aug 17, 2026 · GOOGL — Stage change Buy Zone → Hold @ $344 · Human call
    Cloud's growing 82% and Berkshire is buying the dip with us — but at 15% to our value the fat pitch is gone. Holding, not adding, while the AI brain-drain headlines shake out.
  • Aug 17, 2026 · SNDK — Sold @ $1,787 +47.4% (target-hit) · Human call
    Booked +47% in seven days. Investor day re-rated the entire NAND story — multi-year fixed-price contracts, 80% gross margin targets — and price ran to within 2% of our $1,810 value. We sell at value; that's the whole point of having one. If the estimates keep climbing it can earn its way back.

← Sunday, August 16, 2026 · Tuesday, August 18, 2026 → · Archive