Wall Street maintained strong momentum last week, marked by record-breaking activity even as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq saw minor declines on Friday. The S&P 500 crossed the 7,800 threshold for the first time on Thursday, closing at a fresh record high. This performance comes despite the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting a weekly loss of nearly 0.6 percent. Investors found stability in cooling economic data that reduced pressure on the Federal Reserve regarding near-term interest rate hikes.
Two critical inflation reports provided the necessary assurance for market participants. Wednesday’s consumer price index confirmed a 3.4 percent annual inflation rate, while Thursday’s producer price index remained unchanged on a monthly basis. These figures align with economic forecasts and provide evidence that inflation is moderating. Consequently, Treasury yields fell as the market reduced the probability of an interest rate increase at the September Fed meeting.
Corporate activity in the artificial intelligence sector further defined the week. Intel successfully completed a $20 billion capital raise to support its semiconductor manufacturing capacity. While the initial announcement caused a brief dip, the high demand for the offering and insider stock purchases by CEO Lip-Bu Tan signaled investor confidence in the company’s AI roadmap. This move reflects a broader trend of significant capital allocation toward the physical infrastructure required to sustain the current tech cycle.
Nvidia accelerated this shift by partnering with major asset managers—including Blackstone, BlackRock, and KKR—to launch a $500 billion financing platform. This initiative seeks to treat graphics processing units as long-term, revenue-generating infrastructure rather than rapidly depreciating assets. By securing backing from large-scale financial institutions, Nvidia is positioning its hardware as a foundational element of the global AI economy. This approach received external validation from results reported by CoreWeave, which indicated that existing hardware retains operational utility longer than earlier models predicted.