Shoppers carry bags along Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange in New York, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. <\/p>\n
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n
The S&P 500 closed Thursday at a fresh high, buoyed by signs that both Main Street and Wall Street are still buzzing with life.<\/p>\n
Revised data showed U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annualized 3.3% in the quarter ending June, surpassing the consensus forecast of 3.1% by Dow Jones, as well as the Commerce Department’s initial estimate of 3%.<\/p>\n
A key measure called “final sales to private domestic purchasers” jumped to 1.9% from the previous figure of 1.2%, noted<\/a> CNBC’s Jeff Cox. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis<\/a>, the figure tracks “the sum of personal consumption expenditures and gross private fixed investment,” or, in short, the economic health of consumers and corporations. By this criterion, both seem to be chugging along healthily even amid tariff uncertainty.<\/p>\n Shares of Nvidia<\/a>, meanwhile, dipped 0.3%, despite reporting earnings that topped expectations<\/a>. Investors appear to have wanted more, although the company’s forecast of upbeat sales growth points to continued strength \u2014 suggesting the artificial intelligence boom will persist<\/a>, which propped up stocks of other chipmakers such as Broadcom<\/a> and Micron Technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, Nvidia’s dependence on a handful of large customers \u2014 two of which made up a whopping 39% of its second-quarter revenue \u2014 has raised concerns about concentration risks.<\/p>\n September has historically been the weakest month for the S&P 500<\/a>, based on data from the Stock Trader’s Almanac. But with such fundamentals in place \u2014 and a likely rate cut<\/a> by the U.S. Federal Reserve in the upcoming month \u2014 this year could be atypical for stocks.<\/p>\n What you need to know today<\/p>\n U.S. second-quarter GDP rose more than expected. <\/strong>On an annualized basis, <\/strong>the economy expanded 3.3%<\/a>, according to the Commerce Department’s second estimate \u2014 higher than the 3.0% initial estimate and the 3.1% Dow Jones consensus forecast.<\/p>\n Two customers made up 39% of Nvidia’s second-quarter revenue. <\/strong>That’s according to Nvidia’s financial filing on Wednesday. They could either be cloud providers or manufacturers<\/a> \u2014 but little else is known about the identity of those customers.<\/p>\n Tesla’s July sales in Europe plunged. <\/strong>There were 8,837 new registrations of Tesla vehicles last month<\/a>, down 40% year on year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. BYD, meanwhile, saw a 225% annual surge.<\/p>\n Another high for the S&P 500. <\/strong>The broad-based index added 0.32% Thursday and closed above the 6,500 level<\/a> for the first time. The pan-European Stoxx 600<\/a> slipped 0.2% despite opening higher in early trade<\/a>.<\/p>\n [PRO] A buying opportunity for Orsted shares? <\/strong>Shares of Orsted, one of the world’s largest developers of offshore wind farms, plunged 40% in August amid a funding issue and a stop-work order on its project. But one analyst just upgraded its stock to a “Buy.”<\/a><\/p>\n