AI-Driven Tech Rally Sustains Fresh New Highs On Wall Street

Barry Adams
12 Sep, 2025
New York City

Popular benchmark indexes on Wall Street hovered near record highs as investors shifted their focus to the Fed's rate decisions. 

The S&P 500 index edged down 0.1%, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite decreased a fraction in Friday's trading. 

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced to new record highs after investors cheered the consumer price inflation report for August. 

However, the jobless claims hogged the limelight after the initial weekly claims rose to a four-year high of 263,000 at the end of the first week of September.

And the continuing jobless claims held nearly steady at 1.94 million. 

Fed policymakers are in a tough spot as they try to balance the dual mandate of price stability and maximum employment. 

While inflation is contained but far from the Fed's target rate of 2%, policymakers are worried about the lagging impact of the sharp escalation in import taxes on goods. 

Moreover, job market conditions are deteriorating as businesses are not firing but also not hiring new employees, and the average increase in payrolls in the last three months to August fell to 29,000. 

For now, market participants are convinced that the policy makers' committee is set to lower the fed funds rate by at least 25 basis points on September 18. 

 

U.S. Stock Movers 

Adobe Inc.rose 2.5% to $361.01 after the content software developer's quarterly results surpassed market expectations. 

In the fiscal third quarter ending on August 29, consolidated revenue increased to $6 billion from $5.4 billion, net income soared to $1.8 billion from $1.7 billion, and diluted earnings per share rose to $4.18 from $3.76 a year ago.

During the quarter, Adobe repurchased approximately 8.0 million shares.

Adobe guided fiscal fourth-quarter revenue to be between $6.075 billion and $6.125 billion, earnings per share between $4.27 and $4.32, and adjusted earnings per share between $5.35 and $5.40.

Adobe guided full-year revenue to be between $23.65 billion and $23.70 billion, earnings per share between $16.53 and $16.58, and adjusted earnings per share between $20.80 and $20.85.

The Kroger Co. inched up 0.4% to $67.48 after the food retailer reported a 30% increase in net income in the fiscal second quarter ending on August 16.

Consolidated revenue inched higher to $33.94 billion from $33.91 billion, net income climbed to $609 million from $466 million, and diluted earnings per share soared to 91 cents from 64 cents a year ago.

The company reported a 16% increase in e-commerce sales.

In the fiscal fourth quarter of 2024, Kroger launched a $5 billion accelerated share repurchase program, expected to be completed in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. 

The ASR is part of a $7.5 billion share repurchase authorization, with the remaining $2.5 billion planned for open market repurchases by the end of FY2025.

Kroger guided full-year identical sales without fuel to be between 2.7% and 3.4%, operating profit between $4.8 billion and $4.9 billion, earnings per share between $4.70 and $4.80, and an effective tax rate of 18.5%.

RH dropped 7.5% to $211.0 after the furniture retailer reported weaker-than-expected revenue in the fiscal second quarter ending on August 2. 

Revenue rose 8.4% to $899.2 million from $829.7 million, net income soared 79% to $51.7 million from $28.95 million, and diluted earnings per share advanced to $2.62 from $1.45 a year ago. 

The furniture retailer guided third-quarter revenue growth between 8% and 10% and adjusted operating margin of 12% and 13%; full-year revenue growth between 8% and 10%; and adjusted operating margin of 13% to 14%.

Super Micro Computer jumped 6.6% to $46.85, and the company confirmed the start of volume shipments of its custom servers with Nvidia Blackwell Ultra solutions to its worldwide customers.