CNBC

Lead Story

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh delivered a hawkish Jackson Hole address warning that underlying inflation has not cooled sufficiently, prompting traders on the CME FedWatch tool to spike September interest rate hike odds to 55%. The central bank warning tempered enthusiasm across Wall Street just as blockbuster earnings from Nvidia and enterprise software leaders delivered a solid weekly gain across the major averages.

Markets & Economics

The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5%, snapping a two-week losing skid behind an AI-fueled rally on Thursday. Markets flatlined on Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh kept another rate hike squarely on the table during his Jackson Hole speech, shifting rate hike probabilities from 35% to 55% within 24 hours. Broad macro anxiety deepened as the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index tumbled 11% year-over-year toward historic lows while household credit card debt reached a staggering $1.26 trillion. That consumer divergence has corporate leaders and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disputing whether the economy is currently “K-shaped,” “C-shaped,” or “E-shaped,” as detailed in CNBC’s feature on the shape of today’s economy, while commodity markets absorbed an 80% plunge in Iranian crude export loadings to 260,000 barrels per day under a tightened U.S. naval blockade.

Business & Earnings

Enterprise tech dominated corporate headlines as Nvidia posted its fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating revenue growth alongside an agreement for Amazon to purchase an additional 2 million GPUs through 2028. Salesforce rocketed 22% on the week after generating $11.35 billion in revenue, non-GAAP operating margins of 34.1%, adjusted EPS of $5.90, and a record $25 billion buyback, with CEO Marc Benioff pushing back against software obsolescence fears in an interview on CNBC with Jim Cramer. Meanwhile, OpenAI announced plans to terminate developer access to its models on coding assistant Cursor by November 12, citing contractual compliance concerns following the startup’s $60 billion acquisition by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. In legacy industrial manufacturing, Goodyear CEO Mark Stewart confirmed the tiremaker is extending its restructuring timeline to confront a $453 million first-half loss and $7 billion in debt, warning that cash burn will persist into 2027 before closing its North Carolina plant yields $270 million in annual operating improvements. Wrapping up landmark legal exposure, Meta agreed to an $18 billion multi-state settlement over youth safety features, prompting California Attorney General Rob Bonta to signal imminent regulatory litigation against Snap, TikTok, and Alphabet’s YouTube.

Investing & Commentary

Bank of America unveiled high-conviction September calls, reiterating Buy ratings on ASML with a €2,452 price objective, Madison Square Garden Entertainment on operating leverage from concert and playoff revenues, and Church & Dwight for defensive margin expansion. Technical strategists flagged overbought risks in high-momentum names, identifying Salesforce and J.M. Smucker as flashing relative strength index (RSI) levels above 70 following weekly rallies above 5%. The CNBC Investing Club lifted its Nvidia target to $280 from $260 and reiterated a Buy on CrowdStrike, concluding that enterprise adoption proves AI infrastructure spending is expanding software cash flows rather than creating a zero-sum hardware trade.

Also Worth Watching

• How Imax Makes Millions From Theaters It Doesn’t Own (CNBC Video): CEO Richard Gelfond details the asset-light licensing and revenue-sharing model that drove $410 million in 2025 revenue and powered record box office hauls for Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” on roughly 1% of the world’s movie screens.
• Inside Lynas Rare Earths and the Race to Build Supply Chains Beyond China (CNBC Managing Asia): Former CEO Amanda Lacaze sits down with Christine Tan to discuss navigating operational turnarounds and scaling critical rare-earth processing in Malaysia outside Beijing’s supply grip.
• Bradley Tusk on What Data Centers Need to Do to Gain Trust (CNBC Video): Venture capitalist Bradley Tusk analyzes strategies to overcome public backlash and grid constraints after local opposition stalled $130 billion in data center development during the first quarter of 2026.
• CFTC Fines Former White House Aide $172,000 for Prediction Market Trades (CNBC): Regulators penalized an ex-presidential teleprompter operator for illegally profiting off advance text drafts via presidential mention contracts on prediction-market exchange Kalshi.

📊 Would you like a comparative deep-dive into the enterprise software margins vs. hardware capex numbers reported across this week’s earnings?