The Nasdaq 100 slid 1% to 29,359 as Wall Street handed back a chunk of Thursday’s Nvidia-powered tech rally on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh used his first Jackson Hole speech to tell investors that the inflation fight is far from over.
“This summer’s inflation data is better than expected, but do not tell me underlying trends have meaningfully improved,” Warsh said. Financial conditions are not currently restrictive and the labor market is consistent with full employment, he explained.
Money markets now assign roughly a 60% probability to a hike at the September meeting, up from about 35% before the speech, according to CME FedWatch.
The Front End Bore The Brunt of It
The 2-year Treasury yield jumped 10 basis points to 4.34%, while the 10-year yield rose 4 basis points to 4.72% after touching 4.7% intraday.
The long end barely moved, with the 30-year yield flat at 5.20%, a flattening consistent with a market pricing tighter policy rather than higher term premium.
On the data front, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index was revised up to 51.7 but still fell about 6% from July, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised payrolls in the year through March 2026 down by 79,000 – a far smaller haircut than last year’s 911,000 revision.
The S&P 500 was little changed at 7,721, down 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average clung to a marginal gain at 53,583.
Precious metals took the hardest hit from the move in yields and the dollar. Gold tumbled 2.0% to $4,509 an ounce and silver sank 2.2% to $67.75, though both remain sharply higher on the month.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) also plummeted over 2% towards $78,000.
Friday’s Performance In Major US Indices
| Index | Last | % Change | MTD | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,721.26 | -0.1% | +3.3% | +12.8% |
| Dow Jones | 53,583.00 | +0.0% | +2.1% | +11.5% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 29,359.00 | -1.0% | +4.3% | +16.3% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,984.97 | -1.0% | +1.7% | +20.3% |
According to the Benzinga Pro platform:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) eased 0.1%.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA) was flat.
- The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) slid 1.0%.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) dropped 1.0%.
Gold Miners Bear The Brunt Of The Warsh Repricing
The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLC) led all sectors with a 1.4% gain, closely followed by the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY), up 1.2%.
The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) was the worst performer, down 1.0%, with the Industrials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLI) close behind at a 1.0% loss.
At the industry level, the rate-sensitive complex was hit hardest. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) sank 3.2%, the steepest industry decline of the session, giving back a slice of a 35.4% month-to-date run.
The Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (NYSE:PBW) fell 2.6% and the iShares Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ:IBB) dropped 2.3%, both classic long-duration losers when hike odds rise.
Elastic N.V. (NYSE:ESTC) is up 17.9% after Thursday’s fiscal first-quarter print showed revenue of $478 million, up 15% year-over-year. That makes it the single biggest gainer in the Russell 1000.
Elastic Cloud revenue is up 20% to $235.2 million with non-GAAP EPS of 70 cents. Management guided fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS to $3.29-$3.37, above the $3.24 consensus.
Solstice Advanced Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:SOLS) jumped 14.8% after terminating its proposed acquisition of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) and announcing a $500 million share buyback in its place.
The Gap Inc. (NYSE:GAP) rallied 13.1% after posting adjusted EPS of 52 cents on $3.7 billion in revenue, lifting full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $2.35-$2.45 from $2.30-$2.40, and naming Michael Francis as the next CEO of Old Navy.
Workday Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) climbed 7.2% after delivering fiscal second-quarter non-GAAP EPS of $2.75 against a $2.61 consensus, with subscription revenue guided to roughly $2.455 billion and CRPO growth of 13.5% to 14.5%. Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) added 5.0% on a revenue beat at $1.166 billion and next-quarter revenue guidance of about $1.21 billion, roughly 3.6% above consensus.
On the Downside
IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) plunged 13.1% after reporting a quarterly loss of 74 cents per share against a 55-cent estimated loss, a roughly 35% miss, as mining revenue continued to shrink while GPU capacity is installed. Crypto-linked names moved in sympathy, with TeraWulf Inc (NASDAQ:WULF) off 7.2%, Strategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) down 7.5% and Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) lower by 6.4%.
PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) sank 12.2% after Bloomberg reported that the Advent International and Stripe consortium abandoned its pursuit of the payments company. The group had bid $60.50 per share, valuing PayPal at roughly $53 billion, an offer the board deemed inadequate.
Rubrik Inc. (NYSE:RBRK) tumbled 11.8% in a classic case of the bar being too high. The data security firm beat on both lines, with adjusted EPS of 20 cents versus 4 cents expected and revenue of $427.3 million versus $396.3 million, and subscription ARR up 33% to $1.66 billion – but the stock had closed up 11.3% on Thursday near a 52-week high heading in.
Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) slid 10.2% despite a double beat – revenue of $2.74 billion and non-GAAP EPS of 94 cents, with data center revenue up 46% year-over-year and fiscal 2027 revenue guided to nearly $11.5 billion. After a 187% year-to-date run into the print, the guide was not enough.
The chip complex followed, with Entegris Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) down 7.4%, Semtech Corp. (NASDAQ:SMTC) off 7.8% and Amkor Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR) lower by 6.3%.
SentinelOne Inc. (NYSE:S) fell 8.6% after trimming full-year adjusted EPS guidance to 30-32 cents from 32-38 cents, below the roughly 35 cents analysts modeled, and guiding third-quarter adjusted EPS to 8-9 cents against an 11-cent consensus. Revenue of $292 million beat, and full-year revenue guidance was nudged up to $1.202 billion-$1.207 billion, but the profit cut won the day.
Friday’s Russell 1000 Top Gainers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| Elastic N.V. | +17.94% |
| Solstice Advanced Materials, Inc. | +14.79% |
| The Gap, Inc. | +13.11% |
| Workday, Inc. | +7.19% |
| Domino’s Pizza, Inc. | +5.70% |
Friday’s Russell 1000 Top Losers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| IREN Limited | -13.08% |
| PayPal Holdings, Inc. | -12.19% |
| Rubrik, Inc. | -11.82% |
| Marvell Technology, Inc. | -10.16% |
| SentinelOne, Inc. | -8.56% |
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