U.S. equities declined amid inflation concerns and pre-Labor Day trading, with Autodesk leading gains due to strong demand for its AI data center software, while Caterpillar warned of tariff impacts, Nvidia's stock fell due to competition from Alibaba's AI chip, and other companies like Petco and Affirm reported positive earnings. Gold prices rose, oil and cryptocurrencies fell, and bond yields increased.
Major stock indexes showed modest gains amid geopolitical tensions and tariff threats from Trump, with notable jumps in Nvidia-backed Nebius Group and Autodesk, while Waters Corp. plunged after a merger announcement. Bitcoin and related stocks reached new highs, and upcoming earnings and inflation data are on investors' radar.
Autodesk is considering acquiring PTC, a major engineering software firm, in a potential cash-and-stock deal amid ongoing industry consolidation and rising AI demand, with PTC's stock surging on the news, though no final decision has been made.
Autodesk's shares are rising in premarket trading after the company reported strong fiscal second-quarter earnings, indicating that it is on track for several years of digitization momentum. Analysts are optimistic about the company's performance.
Jim Cramer, host of "Mad Money," gave his lightning round opinions on various stocks. He recommended buying Wingstop due to its strong stock performance. Cramer advised against investing in RingCentral and NetEase, citing concerns about competition and Chinese stocks. He also expressed caution about Scotts Miracle-Gro, emphasizing its dependence on the gardening industry. However, Cramer admitted his mistake in overlooking Autodesk and acknowledged it as a stock worth considering.
Marvell Technology, Gap, and Workday saw their stocks surge in premarket trading after reporting better-than-expected earnings. Autodesk's first-quarter results were in line with analysts' expectations, but its second-quarter guidance was weaker than expected. Deckers Outdoor exceeded analysts' expectations for its fourth-quarter results, but gave lower-than-expected full-year earnings and revenue guidance. RH beat estimates for its fiscal first quarter, but its second-quarter revenue guidance fell short of expectations and the company warned of increased markdowns. Ulta Beauty posted strong earnings and revenue for the first quarter, but its comparable sales grew slightly less than expected.
Autodesk has finally updated its professional applications AutoCAD and Maya to run natively on M1 and M2 chips after two years and four months since the first Apple Silicon Mac hit the market. The update adds new features and claims to increase overall performance by up to two times compared to the previous version. Autodesk's efforts to support Apple Silicon have been ongoing for an interminably long time, but it's here now.
