Mocha Markets Weekly

Us stocks hit a fresh records this week before easing on Friday. The S&P 500 cleared 7,800 for the first time on Thursday and locked in its third straight winning week which is now its longest run since may, helped by inflation that finally cooled.

The Stocks That Led

Reddit jumped over 10% after news it will join the S&P 500 before the market opens on August 18. Joining the index forces many large funds to buy the stock, which often results in increase of the stock price.

SanDisk, a maker of flash memory chips, rose about 7% after its investor day, and JPMorgan upgraded it with a $2,250 price target, roughly ₹2.15 lakh, on relentless AI driven demand for memory.

Micron, the biggest US memory chip maker, sits at the centre of the same story and is up well over 150% in 2026, as a shortage that raises costs for device makers turns into pricing power for the chipmakers.

Disney climbed about 2% on Friday on strength in its parks and streaming, while the broader earnings season stayed strong, with about 87% of S&P 500 companies beating profit forecasts.

Not everything rose. Salesforce and Cisco led the Dow lower on Friday as investors booked profits in tech, Globant sank about 13% on a weak quarter, and Range Resources fell around 7% as natural gas prices stayed soft.

The Inflation Relief

The week’s real driver was the Consumer Price Index, the main measure of US inflation. It slowed to 3.4% a year, and Thursday’s wholesale inflation reading came in below expectations too.

Cooler inflation matters for one simple reason. It takes pressure off the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, to raise interest rates again. Lower rates make borrowing cheaper and lift the value of future profits, so stocks tend to rise when a rate increase looks less likely. By week’s end, the odds of a September hike had faded.

A Warning From the Shopper

Friday told the other half of the story. US retail sales fell 0.6% in July, the sharpest drop in more than a year, when economists had expected a small rise. Consumer confidence slid too, with the University of Michigan sentiment index dropping to 51 from 55.

This is the tension worth holding. Consumer spending is roughly two thirds of the US economy, so a nervous shopper is a warning. Soft data cools rate worries, which the market likes, but if spending keeps falling, company revenue eventually follows. Add last week’s surprise loss of 23,000 jobs in July, and the picture is a slowdown the market wants to be gentle, not sharp.

The Rate Picture

There was no Fed meeting this week, but the rate story still moved. With inflation cooling and the consumer softening, markets now lean toward the Fed staying on hold rather than hiking. Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, fell to its lowest level of 2026, near 14.5, a sign of unusual calm.

The next big signal comes late this month, when Fed officials gather at the Jackson Hole conference from August 27 to 29. Their tone there could reset expectations quickly.

What Moved Oil, and What Trump Said

Oil rose this week, with US crude, WTI, firming to about $82 a barrel, roughly ₹7,825, snapping a two week losing streak. The reason was Washington.

President Trump pivoted back to sanctions on Iran, in what his administration calls a maximum pressure campaign, as talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz stayed deadlocked. Trump said the US Navy now controls the strait and that it is “open now,” while demanding compensation from Tehran as a condition for talks.

For an Indian trader, this chain matters. India imports most of its oil, so a higher crude price feeds into inflation at home and into the rupee, which held near 95.4 per dollar.

The Week Ahead

• The American consumer takes centre stage, with Walmart, the largest US retailer, reporting alongside Home Depot, Lowe’s and Target. After Friday’s weak retail sales, these results show whether shoppers are truly pulling back.

• Reddit officially joins the S&P 500 on August 18.

• Nvidia, the most watched name in the market, reports later this month, the unofficial finale of earnings season and the next big test for the AI trade.

• Oil and the Iran headlines stay in focus.

Crypto Corner

Bitcoin slipped to around $63,000, about ₹60 lakh, and Ethereum eased to near $1,880, roughly ₹1.8 lakh, both drifting lower even as stocks hit records. What stands out is the split: soft inflation lifted gold this week, yet crypto did not get the same safe haven bid, a reminder that Bitcoin does not always trade as the inflation hedge its fans claim.

In a sign of the two worlds merging, Norway’s giant sovereign wealth fund saw its indirect Bitcoin exposure reach a record, mostly through its stakes in listed companies that hold the coin.

Learn with MochaTrade

Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the number that tracks how fast prices are rising across everyday goods and services. When you hear inflation “cooled to 3.4%,” it does not mean prices fell. It means they are still rising, just more slowly than before.

Here is the everyday version. If your monthly groceries went from ₹10,000 to ₹10,340 over a year, that is 3.4% inflation. The bill did not shrink, it simply grew a little less than last year. That gap between slower inflation and real relief is exactly why shoppers still feel squeezed even as the data improves.

Follow Mochatrade for clear, simple breakdowns of the global markets, companies, and events shaping where money moves next.

For educational purposes only, not investment advice. Trading carries risk, including loss of capital. Figures approximate. Do your own research.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, CNBC, TheStreet, Yahoo Finance, Trading Economics, Charles Schwab, US Census Bureau, University of Michigan. Numbers current as of the close on Friday, August 14, 2026. USD to INR about 95.4.