The S&P 500 closed at a record 7798.99 on August 13, its 27th record close of the year, recovering fully from a sharp July selloff. Strong earnings and cooler inflation data drove the rebound, though the Nasdaq 100 has yet to reclaim its early-June highs.
The S&P 500 closed at 7798.99 on August 13, marking its 27th record high of the year. Six weeks earlier, the index was sliding through a July selloff.
By late August, the index had pulled back slightly to trade in the 7711 to 7731 range, still up roughly 13% year-to-date.
What drove the rebound
The recovery rests on two legs. First, corporate earnings came in strong: second-quarter S&P 500 profit growth hit approximately 33.5% year-over-year, the best showing since 2021. A significant portion came from companies riding the AI spending wave, where capital expenditures from major technology firms translated into outsized revenue beats across the supply chain.
Second, inflation cooperated. July producer and consumer price data both came in cooler than expected, and traders scaled back their bets on a September Federal Reserve move. Equities responded to the receding threat of tighter money by rising.
The July pullback had been sharp enough to rattle nerves. The S&P 500 fell roughly 5% from its early-summer levels. The Nasdaq Composite came closer to correction territory, dropping somewhere between 7% and 8% from its early-June peak. The proximate causes were a mix of valuation concerns around concentrated tech positions and geopolitical noise tied to U.S.-Iran tensions.
Nasdaq 100 lags the record run
The S&P 500 is printing records, but the Nasdaq 100 has not caught up. As of late August, it remained modestly below its early-June highs, even as the broader market surged past its own previous peaks. The record run has been carried in part by a broadening of market participation, with sectors outside mega-cap tech contributing more to gains than in 2024 or early 2025.
What comes next
Analysts who revised their year-end targets after the August record are now pointing to approximately 7900 as a reasonable landing zone for the S&P 500 by December, driven by persistent earnings optimism and sustained demand for AI technologies.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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