Oil Surge, Fed Talk, and OpenAI-Cursor Split Set Market Tone
Oil jumps on U.S.-Iran tensions; Fed comments hit tech stocks; OpenAI splits with Cursor. Markets brace for jobs data.
According to CNBC, Jim Cramer, in his top 10 things to watch Monday, noted that oil was up nearly 4% and Chevron, his crude barometer, was trading above $200. He said Trump appeared frustrated by a slower sanctions approach and was threatening military action against Iran's oil infrastructure.
Cramer also pointed out that bond yields rose slightly despite the oil surge, which capped losses in futures. Friday had been tough after Warsh's inflation comments, which took down Nvidia, giving back more than half of its 8.5% post-earnings gain from Thursday. However, Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes questioned the sell-off, saying that leaning into open models really helps Nvidia and calling it the "Apple Services" moment for the AI chip giant. Nvidia was steady on the last day of August, up more than 8% for the month and 17% year to date.
In a separate development, OpenAI said it is ending its contracts with Cursor, an AI code editor that was acquired by Elon Musk's SpaceX. "We are making this choice because we cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service, based on our experience with Elon Musk's companies violating contracts," OpenAI said. Cramer noted the move adds to the rivalry between Sam Altman and Musk.
Several other corporate events are ahead this week. Broadcom and Palo Alto Networks are scheduled to report earnings, and CrowdStrike kicks off its Fal.Con conference, with CEO George Kurtz's keynote on Tuesday featuring Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Bank of America raised its Dell price target to $505 from $500 ahead of Dell's earnings Tuesday night. Guggenheim cut its TJX price target to $152 from $175, citing weakness at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. Morgan Stanley said memberships for Walmart+ remain near record highs, and Bernstein lifted its Affirm price target to $110 from $100.
Cramer also noted that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 3% and 4% month-to-date, respectively, and that September has historically been the most challenging month on Wall Street. This week will be jobs-focused, with the latest job openings data Tuesday, ADP private-sector hiring Wednesday, and the government employment report Friday.