Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq slip after stocks hit record high, consumer sentiment declines

LIVE Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq slip after stocks hit record high, consumer sentiment declines Grace O'Donnell · Editor, Special Projects Updated Fri, August 14, 2026 at 6:55 PM GMT+2 1 min read ^GSPC ^DJI CL=F NVDA ^N225 US stocks fell on Friday after the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) notched a record high amid deteriorating consumer sentiment. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( DJI ) declined by 0. 2%.

The Nasdaq-100 ( IXIC ) dropped 0. 4%. The S&P 500 was on pace to post a weekly gain.

Investors turned cautious in afternoon trading after a preliminary reading of August consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan showed that Americans grew more dour on the economy as inflation remained top of mind. Oil prices also rose, adding pressure amid low-volume summer trading. Stocks have been fueled by strong earnings.

With no major reports on the calendar for Friday, attention is turning to a series of retail earnings next week, including Target ( TGT ) and Walmart ( WMT ), before Nvidia's ( NVDA )  highly anticipated report  the week after, on Aug. 26. Also on the economic data front US retail sales fell the most in more than a year last month, according to new data released Friday by the Census Bureau.

LIVE 10 updates Today at 3:43 PM UTC Jake Conley AI infrastructure stocks have sold off. That's created a buying opportunity, BofA says. It's no secret that AI infrastructure stocks have sold off lately.

That's created a buying opportunity for investors, says Bank of America. As hyperscaler capex projections have surged, fears have increasingly coalesced around the effect of an eventual slowdown in spending, which would come as an intensely bearish signal for those companies involved in the physical side of the equation, building data centers and other infrastructure. "The well-trodden AI infrastructure story … at least temporarily, got so popular that it suffered from a wave of profit taking," BofA equity researchers led by Alec Stranahan wrote.

The AI infrastructure sell-off has "created attractive entry points despite continued strength in hyperscaler capex outlooks," the analysts wrote. 82% of investors who participated in Bank of America's Fund Manager Survey cited "long global semicondutors" as the world's most crowded trade. Chart: BofA Global Research · BofA Global Research One example of a good buy, the analysts cite, is Meta ( META ), which is down 10% since the start of the year.

The Street is "underappreciating Meta's ability to monetize its growing capacity assets, which have demonstrated value based on recent capacity deals," per BofA analyst Justin Post. Not only will the company benefit from its traditional business, Post wrote, but "Meta could monetize portions of its infrastructure, model capabilities, or AI services through enterprise deals creating entirely new revenue streams. " Today at 2:56 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell The AI build-out has a problem that $1 trillion in cash can't fix New Wall Street estimates of hyperscaler spending peg the price tag for the AI build-out next year at between $700 billion and over $1 trillion.

But money's not going to get the job done, Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman notes, because the biggest bottleneck isn't cash. She writes: Compute is certainly an expensive proposition. We know memory chip prices have been soaring.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) seems able to command whatever price it sets for its newest graphics processing units (GPUs) and software because of fierce demand. There's land to buy, buildings to construct, servers and cooling systems to install. Despite investment in new manufacturing capacity, chip shortages persist.

Construction contractors have highlighted the lack of skilled labor to complete projects on their clients' desired timeline. Then there are the growing regulatory constraints stemming from public backlash against data centers, including a one-year moratorium in New York and an audit of power hookups in Texas. And power is perhaps the biggest bottleneck of all.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates a 19-gigawatt shortfall in power for AI data centers by 2035 if growth continues at its current pace. "Not only do we need the equipment, not only do we need the permits, but we need the people," George Gianarikas, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity who covers power generation companies, said in an interview. Read more.

Data center buildings are under construction during a tour of the OpenAI data center in Abilene, Texas, U. S. , September 23, 2025.

A total of eight data center buildings are planned to exist on the campus. REUTERS/Shelby Tauber/Pool/ · REUTERS / REUTERS Today at 2:11 PM UTC Jake Conley Consumer sentiment sours for first time in three months amid inflation concerns, per U. Mich.

US consumers grew more dour about the economy in August as sentiment declined amid the war, higher bond yields, and geopolitical uncertainty, according to a preliminary reading from the University of Michigan. UMich's Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to 51 from July's 55. 2 reading, coming in markedly below economists' expectations of 55 and ending two consecutive months of improvement in the metric.

Indexes tracking current conditions and expectations also underperformed expectations. The current conditions index printed at 51. 8 against expectations of 54.

8, while the expectations index was 50. 6 vs. expectations of 55.

2. Consumers' expectations of inflation over the next year also rose in a bearish sign for markets dealing with 5 years of above-target inflation. Year-ahead inflation expectations rose to 4.

3% from 4. 2% in July, while 5-10 year price expectations remained flat month-on-month at 3. 3%.

Economists had been looking for 1-year expectations of 4. 2% and 5-10 year expectations of 3. 3%.

Only 8% of consumers expect income growth to outpace inflation over the next year, per the survey. "Although the early-month weakening in sentiment was pervasive across various demographic groups, notably large reductions were seen among older consumers, lower-income consumers, and those without a college degree," said the survey's director,   Joanne Hsu. "These groups are all particularly vulnerable to any erosion of purchasing power stemming from inflation.

Retail sales data from the Department of Commerce, also released on Friday, showed sales fell by 0. 6% month-on-month, a disappointment compared with expectations of 0. 1% growth.

Today at 1:32 PM UTC Ines Ferré Stocks open mixed with S&P 500 near record, on pace for winning week Stocks were headed for a winning week as the S&P 500 ( GSPC ) hovered at record highs. Energy and Technology stocks led the gains this week, with the AI trade in focus. The Nasdaq Composite ( IXIC ) rose slightly while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( DJI ) ticked down fractionally.

Expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep rates steady at its next policy meeting, given softer-than-expected inflation prints this week, have also fueled the market. Shares of Sandisk ( SNDK ) jumped, extending gains from the prior session after the flash memory maker's Investor Day showed continued momentum in the AI bottleneck trade. Today at 12:54 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell Retail sales fall by most in over a year US retail sales fell by the most in more than a year last month, new data out Friday from the Census Bureau showed.

Monthly retail sales unexpectedly dropped 0. 6% to in July from the month before, reaching $763. 6 billion.

It marked the largest decline since May 2025, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected overall sales to rise 0. 1%. Sales excluding autos and gasoline fell 0.

2%, versus expectations of a 0. 3% gain. The slowdown in summer spending likely complicates the Federal Reserve’s policymaking in the wake of cooler-than-expected inflation data and a soft jobs report.

It also comes ahead of a series of retail earnings next week from Walmart ( WMT ), Target ( TGT ), Home Depot ( HD ), Lowe’s ( LOW ), and other major stores. Another read on the health of the consumer — the latest consumer sentiment reading — comes out at 10:00 a. m.

, giving investors a picture of how Americans are feeling about inflation and high gas prices. A customer shops for cilantro at a Walmart Supercenter on July 23, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) · Brandon Bell via Getty Images Today at 11:57 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell Workday takeover chatter could mark a turning point for software stocks Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports: A big buyout of Workday ( WDAY ) could send an important signal on software stocks, which have been hammered over the past 12 months.

"We believe that the reported discussions highlights that the terminal risk related to AI for certain enterprise software companies (i. e. those with scale) is potentially overdone," Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne wrote in a note on Friday.

Reports surfaced late Thursday that the tech-focused private equity firm Silver Lake has held preliminary discussions in recent months about acquiring enterprise software player Workday . Shares finished yesterday's session up 17. 8%.

… If the deal happens, it would be one of the largest private equity software buyouts in history. It would also fire a shot back at "SaaSpocalypse" believers. Read more.

Today at 11:00 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell Reddit will finally be included in the S&P 500, sending shares higher Reddit ( RDDT ) will be included in the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) before the start of trading on Aug. 18, S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Thursday, sending Reddit’s stock soaring over 10% in extended trading. S&P component Equity Residential is merging with another component, AvalonBay Communities, freeing up space on the index.

Reddit, which went public in 2024, has a market capitalization of over $30 billion. The stock recently suffered a major setback after a lack of new AI deals mentioned in its latest quarterly earnings disappointed investors. Read more.

Today at 10:03 AM UTC Jared Blikre Wall Street's riskiest trades are suddenly back on top Investors are reaching for more risk — and getting paid for it. Nine trading days into August, Cathie Wood's ARK Innovation ETF ( ARKK ) is up 16%, while IPOs, chips, and software have all jumped 9% or more. The gains are enormous in dollar terms too.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) has added about $600 billion in market value this month, while SpaceX ( SPCX ) has piled on roughly $440 billion. Microsoft ( MSFT ) has added nearly $240 billion, while Micron ( MU ), Broadcom ( AVGO ), and Palantir ( PLTR ) have each gained more than $130 billion. ARKK, IPOs, chips and software have opened their biggest early-month lead over the S&P 500 since 2015.

· Yahoo Finance analysis of AlphaSpace data What stands out is how many different flavors of risk are working at the same time. An equal-weight basket of ARKK, the Renaissance IPO ETF ( IPO ), the iShares Semiconductor ETF ( SOXX ), and the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF ( IGV ) is beating the SPDR S&P 500 ETF ( SPY ) by about 8 percentage points through August's first nine trading days. That is the basket's biggest early-month lead since 2015, the first full year after ARKK launched and all four funds were trading.

Read more. Today at 9:00 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell Good morning. Here's what's happening today.

Economic data: Retail sales advance, month-on-month, July (+0. 3% expected, +0. 2% previously); Retail sales ex auto, month-on-month, July (+0.

2% expected, -0. 2% previously); Business inventories, June (+0. 3% previously); U.

Mich. sentiment, August preliminary reading (54. 1 expected, 55.

2 previously); U. Mich. current conditions, August preliminary reading (55 expected, 54.

8 previously); U. Mich. expectations, August preliminary reading (55 expected, 55.

4 previously); U. Mich. 1-year inflation, August preliminary reading (+4.

2% expected, +4. 2% previously); U. Mich.

5-10 year inflation, August preliminary reading (+3. 3% previously) Earnings calendar: United States Antimony Corporation ( UAMY ) Catch up on some top stories overnight: Selena Gomez accused of fraud by mental-health startup investors Car insurance premiums are climbing again in more than half the US Reddit shares surge on S&P 500 inclusion later this month American auto retreat from China accelerates US power grid strains under record electricity demand Today at 8:00 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell Applied Materials forecasts revenue above estimates, shares fall on high expectations Reuters reports: Applied Materials forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations on Thursday, betting that unabated demand for advanced AI ‌chips will continue to fuel robust spending on its semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Even ‌so, its shares dropped more than 5% in extended trading as lofty investor expectations overshadowed the results.

​The stock has more than doubled this year. Expectations are elevated as the chip equipment maker reports after peers Lam Research and KLA posted solid quarterly performances and forecast revenue growth, Stifel's Brian Chin said. According to CFRA analyst Brooks Idlet, the results and the ‌forecast were not enough to ⁠impress the Street, but the print was still solid as momentum clearly continues to improve.

"We think calendar year 2027 consensus estimates ⁠leave room for upside if recent strength continues. " Read more.