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Stocks End Strong Week Near All Time Highs
RiskReversal Recap: Friday, August 8th
RiskReversal Media
August 08, 2025
MARKET WRAP
Stocks opened modestly higher this morning and, in a break from the recent pattern of early strength fading into selling pressure, built on those gains steadily throughout the session. The S&P 500 closed at the highs of the day—and the week—now sitting just shy of all-time highs. On the Day: SPX +0.8%, QQQ +1.0%, IWM +0.2%. That’s a new high for QQQ, SPY is about 0.5% away from its, while IWM remains nearly 10% shy.
Elsewhere, the US10YY with a bit of a jump, now 4.29%. Gold saw two way volatility on conflicting news around tariffs and import/exports. Oil was a touch lower on the day but down significantly on the week. DXY was down a tad today to close lower on the week. The VIX continued to compress, closing at 15.32 and near its lows of this rally.
Notable Gainers: AAPL +4%, MU +6%, GILD +8%, CSCO +3%
Notable Losers: TTD -38%, IBM -4.5%, SMCI -4.5%, DASH -4.5%
After hours: SPY, QQQ and IWM are all higher after hours.
RiskReversal Pod: Dan is joined by Brett Winton, Chief Futurist at Ark Invest. Brett shares insights about his role, the evolution of ARC Invest, and the focus on disruptive innovation platforms such as AI, robotics, energy storage, public blockchains, and biotech.
MRKT MATRIX: TODAY’S TOP STORIES
S&P 500 rises, Nasdaq hits all-time high as Wall Street aims for a strong end to the week (CNBC)
S&P 500 Earnings Season Update: August 8, 2025 (FactSet)
Trump’s Team Expands Search for Fed Chair, Adding New Names to List (WSJ)
Gold Hit By Surprise US Tariffs, Unleashing New Turmoil (Bloomberg)
Trump Reminds CEOs Who the Ultimate Boss Is (WSJ)
How Tim Cook convinced Trump to drop made-in-USA iPhone – for now (CNBC)
Tesla Disbands Dojo Supercomputer Team in Blow to AI Effort (Bloomberg)
Uber Walks Fine Line to Satisfy Shareholders on Driverless Car Investments (Bloomberg)
Nicotine Is Hot, Beer Is Not. What Vice Stocks Say About America’s Guilty Pleasures. (WSJ)
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Week That Was
Today’s rally capped off an impressive week for the broader market, with the SPX gaining nearly 2.5% despite several bouts of intraday volatility. The “buy the dip” playbook was tested multiple times but never meaningfully challenged. More importantly, the index managed to fully erase last week’s post-FOMC losses, which were sparked by a mix of fresh tariffs and weaker economic data that reignited fears of slowing growth and sticky inflation.
Implied volatility collapsed alongside the rebound, with the VIX completing a round trip from 15 to 22 last Friday, all the way back to 15 today. Short-term volatility for next week is being priced at the lowest levels of the year, although it does rise a bit midweek as potential catalysts hit.
Looking Ahead
Next week brings a key inflation check, with CPI on Tuesday and PPI Thursday. We also get a check on the consumer with the Retail Sales on Friday. Also, more Fed speak leading up to Jackson Hole later this month. Any upside surprises in the inflation data could stoke stagflation concerns again and we could see a market reaction like last week, while cooler prints might give the market the green light for a breakout above the prior highs and out of the past month’s consolidation.
Looking a bit farther out, the options market is already starting to price in elevated volatility around NVIDIA’s earnings at the end of August. After a week full of discussion around Mag7+ concentration, it’s hard to imagine a sustainable breakout without NVDA at least avoiding a meaningful stumble.
We’ll dig into next week’s catalysts in more detail over the weekend. Check your inbox Sunday.
TODAY’S EPISODES
Watch RiskReversal Podcast’s newest episode: Palantir, Tesla and the $90 Trillion AI Boom
Dan Nathan is joined by Brett Winton, Chief Futurist at Ark Invest. Brett shares insights about his role, the evolution of ARC Invest, and the focus on disruptive innovation platforms such as AI, robotics, energy storage, public blockchains, and biotech. They discuss the impact of large-scale investments in AI, the future trajectory of companies like Microsoft and Tesla, and the transformative potential of AI in various sectors. Brett articulates his vision for AI integration in enterprises, the future of autonomous driving, and the role of companies like OpenAI in the broader market landscape.
Timecodes 0:00 - Intro 1:45 - Brett's Background 15:30 - Market Timelines 24:30 - Financial Engineering 30:30 - Palantir 37:30 - Bubble Concerns 46:45 - OpenAI & AGI 55:15 - Tesla
Follow Brett on X: https://x.com/wintonARK
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