Good morning investors! US and Iran continue to negotiate as investors focus on earnings.
Today we cover:
What to expect this week
Nvidia’s new bets
College is getting expensive
📊 Economy and News
What to Expect this Week
Here’s what to keep an eye on this week:
Monday, August 17
No major earnings reports or economic releases are scheduled.
Tuesday, August 18
Amer Sports (AS) reports second-quarter results before the open and hosts a webcast at 8 a.m. ET. The company beat expectations last quarter and raised its full-year forecast.
Home Depot (HD) is expected to release second-quarter figures before the open, followed by a conference call at 9 a.m. ET. Last quarter the retailer delivered solid top- and bottom-line results but saw slower-than-expected same-store sales growth.
Wednesday, August 19
Target (TGT) reports second-quarter results before the open and hosts a conference call at 8 a.m. ET. The retailer topped estimates last quarter, with same-store sales rising for the first time in more than a year.
Lowe’s (LOW) is also expected to report results.
Estée Lauder (EL) publishes fiscal fourth-quarter results and hosts a call at 8:30 a.m. ET. Shares jumped in May after the company abandoned plans to acquire Puig.
Coty (COTY), parent of CoverGirl and Sally Hansen, is also scheduled to report.
TJX Companies (TJX) releases second-quarter results before the open, followed by a conference call at 11 a.m. ET.
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes from the July meeting are due at 2 p.m. ET. Investors will look for insight into policymakers’ discussions on keeping rates steady (three members dissented) while inflation remains above the 2% target.
Thursday, August 20
Walmart (WMT) releases second-quarter results at 7 a.m. ET, followed by a conference call at 8 a.m. ET. Last quarter earnings met expectations while revenue came in above estimates.
Deere & Co. (DE) hosts a conference call on fiscal third-quarter results at 10 a.m. ET (figures expected earlier). Investors sold shares after the prior quarter, but the company has generally performed well in 2026, aided by demand tied to AI data-center construction.
Ross Stores (ROST), another off-price retailer, is also slated to report.
Friday, August 21
BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ) releases second-quarter results before the open and hosts a conference call at 8 a.m. ET. The warehouse-club operator mostly beat expectations last quarter.
Global hits:
India opens tax amnesty scheme for small taxpayers with undisclosed foreign assets.
German investment in the U.S. drops to three-year low amid policy uncertainty.
U.S. said to have negotiated directly with Iran’s IRGC in May.
Reminder: Morgan Stanley says disinflation is here, but risks to 2027 rate outlook remain.
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📈 Stocks
S&P 500 7,785.76 (-0.17%)
DJIA 53,732.41 (-0.20%)
NASDAQ 26,729.16 (-0.28%)
BRENT CRUDE 76.14 (+1.45%)
* Prices as of Aug 17th, 12:20 AM UTC
Nvidia Deepens AI Push with $21B SpaceX Stake and Talks of $3B SB Energy Bet
Nvidia disclosed that its stake in Elon Musk’s SpaceX was worth about $21 billion at the end of the second quarter. The chipmaker owns 122.8 million Class A shares, acquired through its $10 billion investment in Musk’s xAI earlier this year. SpaceX later acquired xAI in a $1.25 trillion deal.
The position is Nvidia’s second-largest after its Intel stake (now about $22 billion). Nvidia ranks as the sixth-biggest SpaceX investor, far behind Musk (about $850 billion) and Alphabet (about $78 billion).
Musk recently said SpaceX will exclusively use Nvidia chips in its AI data centers and expects a significant allocation of next-generation Vera Rubin GPUs.
Separately, Nvidia is in talks to invest as much as $3 billion in SoftBank’s SB Energy, which is developing a major Ohio data-center campus for OpenAI. The investment would form part of broader discussions around roughly $100 billion in credit support for the project, with half of the $3 billion potentially coming at deal signing and the rest tied to SB Energy’s planned IPO (targeted as soon as next month and expected to raise at least $5 billion).
Nvidia has also scaled back earlier plans to support the Ohio project, with reports indicating an initial guarantee now expected below $120 billion, down from previous discussions of $250 billion.
Interesting: U.S. presses Apple to avoid Chinese memory chips amid shortage.
Berkshire owns almost 106 million of Alphabet’s Class A and Class C shares, currently worth around $36.6 billion, making Alphabet the third largest holding in Berkshire Hathaway’s equity portfolio.
Surprising: Anthropic’s revenue surged more than 14-fold in the second quarter from a year earlier.
💵 Personal Finance
How Families Are Covering $100,000 College Costs
With a growing number of colleges charging more than $100,000 a year, higher education is becoming unaffordable for many. Only 12% of Americans say four-year colleges are affordable, and cost remains the top barrier for prospective students.
Nearly half of families borrowed to pay for college in the 2025-26 academic year, and 68% of those borrowers said loans were always part of their plan.
Parent income and savings typically cover less than half the cost. Scholarships and grants account for more than a quarter, while student loans fill most of the remaining gap.
Savings are shrinking. Parents who set money aside reported an average of $37,897 in 2026, down sharply from $51,310 the year before. Just 16% of those families now feel prepared to cover the full cost of a degree with savings alone, versus 27% a year earlier. Many are mixing savings, student jobs, federal and private loans, and even credit cards.
New federal borrowing caps took effect this year under recent legislation. Two-thirds of families surveyed by Sallie Mae support those limits. Experts say the changes could influence school choice as families weigh costs more carefully against academic fit.
Tuition has risen far faster than other household expenses. After deep cuts in state funding following the Great Recession and the COVID downturn, colleges now rely on tuition for roughly half their revenue—up from about a quarter historically. Average tuition is climbing about 5.5% a year, outpacing both inflation and wage growth.
To build college savings more effectively, start early with a 529 plan to take advantage of tax-free growth and potential state tax deductions, automate regular contributions even if small, prioritize high-yield savings or investment options inside the plan, and encourage students to pursue scholarships, grants, and part-time work to reduce the amount that must be saved or borrowed.
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