Market Movers

S&P 500 — daily market movers

Macro backdrop

The S&P 500 slid 0.38% after August nonfarm payrolls came in far stronger than expected (+162K vs. ~55K consensus), reviving odds of a Fed rate hike at the September FOMC meeting and pushing Treasury yields higher. The Dow underperformed (-0.51%) while the Nasdaq slipped a more modest -0.29%, as AI-infrastructure-linked chip, memory and optics names rallied even as rate-sensitive growth and software stocks lagged. An FHFA directive hitting credit-scoring stocks was also a distinct driver of some of the day's biggest individual moves.

Top 10 gainers

  • 1. SNDK+11.90%
    Sandisk Corporation
    Makes NAND flash memory and storage solutions for data centers and devices
    Extended its ongoing AI-memory-boom rally as investors kept chasing NAND/flash names amid tight supply.
  • 2. KLAC+7.32%
    KLA Corporation
    Makes process-control and yield-management equipment for chip manufacturing
    Rode the broad semiconductor-equipment rally tied to continued AI-driven capex optimism.
  • 3. MRVL+7.05%
    Marvell Technology, Inc.
    Designs custom ASICs and networking chips for data centers and AI infrastructure
    Advanced on fresh optimism about AI chip demand tied to reports of OpenAI's next-generation model.
  • 4. COHR+6.60%
    Coherent Corp.
    Makes lasers, optical components and photonics systems for data centers and telecom
    Benefited from the same AI-datacenter optics/photonics rally lifting networking and memory names.
  • 5. NRG+6.42%
    NRG Energy, Inc.
    Independent power producer supplying electricity to residential and commercial customers
    Rode the ongoing 'AI power-demand' trade lifting independent generators seen as levered to data-center electricity needs.
  • 6. STX+6.34%
    Seagate Technology Holdings plc
    Manufactures hard-disk drives and data-storage solutions
    Gained alongside the broader AI-driven memory and storage rally.
  • 7. MU+6.10%
    Micron Technology, Inc.
    Designs and manufactures DRAM and NAND memory chips
    Rose on continued optimism about tight memory supply and AI-driven demand.
  • 8. WDC+5.86%
    Western Digital Corporation
    Manufactures hard-disk drives and data-storage devices
    Tracked the same storage/memory rally as Seagate and Micron.
  • 9. GLW+5.68%
    Corning Incorporated
    Makes specialty glass and fiber-optic cable for telecom and electronics
    Benefited from AI-datacenter fiber/optics demand alongside the broader chip-and-optics rally.
  • 10. TER+5.45%
    Teradyne, Inc.
    Makes automated test equipment for semiconductors and electronics
    Rose with the semiconductor-equipment group on AI capex optimism.

Common Themes

Nine of the ten gainers are directly tied to the AI-infrastructure buildout — memory/storage (SNDK, MU, WDC, STX), chip equipment (KLAC, TER), or networking/optics (MRVL, COHR, GLW) — extending a rally that has run for most of 2026. NRG is the outlier, riding a parallel 'AI power-demand' trade around data-center electricity needs rather than chips directly.

Top 10 losers

  • 1. LULU-17.38%
    lululemon athletica inc.
    Designs and sells premium athletic apparel and accessories
    Cut full-year revenue and EPS guidance for the second time in 2026 after a 9% comparable-sales decline.
  • 2. FICO-16.68%
    Fair Isaac Corporation
    Provides credit-scoring analytics software, best known for the FICO Score
    FHFA Director Bill Pulte ordered Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac to accept VantageScore from all lenders, ending FICO's mortgage-scoring monopoly.
  • 3. ADSK-8.26%
    Autodesk, Inc.
    Makes 3D design, engineering and construction software including AutoCAD
    Issued Q3/full-year earnings guidance that fell short of expectations despite beating on the quarter.
  • 4. ADBE-6.73%
    Adobe Inc.
    Makes creative, document and digital-marketing software such as Photoshop and Acrobat
    Slid after naming an internal CEO successor ahead of earnings, reviving worries about AI disruption to its core business.
  • 5. EFX-6.37%
    Equifax Inc.
    One of the three major U.S. consumer credit-reporting agencies
    Fell alongside FICO on the FHFA's VantageScore mandate, which threatens credit-bureau scoring revenue.
  • 6. PTC-6.04%
    PTC Inc.
    Makes product-lifecycle-management and industrial CAD/IoT software
    Swept up in the design/engineering-software selloff alongside Autodesk; no distinct company-specific news found.
  • 7. TSLA-5.92%
    Tesla, Inc.
    Designs and manufactures electric vehicles, batteries and energy systems
    Fell after its Cybercab launch event left analysts with more questions than answers, wiping out the prior session's gains.
  • 8. SNPS-5.40%
    Synopsys, Inc.
    Makes electronic design automation (EDA) software for chip design
    Declined with the broader design-software group amid the same guidance/AI-disruption jitters hitting peers.
  • 9. WDAY-5.38%
    Workday, Inc.
    Provides cloud-based human-resources and finance management software
    Fell amid renewed enterprise-software AI-disruption fears that also hit Adobe and peers.
  • 10. NFLX-5.35%
    Netflix, Inc.
    Operates a subscription video streaming and entertainment service
    Pressured as rising Treasury yields from the strong jobs report weighed on long-duration growth/streaming valuations.

Common Themes

Unlike the gainers, the losers have no single common thread: a policy shock (FICO/EFX hit by the FHFA's VantageScore mandate), earnings guidance cuts (LULU, ADSK), enterprise/design-software AI-disruption jitters (ADBE, WDAY, SNPS, PTC), an underwhelming product event (TSLA), and rate-driven derating of a long-duration growth name (NFLX) all combined to produce the day's worst performers.

Overall read

Money rotated further into AI-infrastructure hardware — memory, storage, chip equipment and optics — even on a day the broad index slipped, while a policy shock hit the credit-scoring/bureau group and several software and consumer names were hit by idiosyncratic earnings or event-driven disappointments rather than a common macro theme.

Sources