While it was accompanied by some mixed messages, news of the first rate cut from the Federal Reserve this year was still enough to push all the major US indices to new record highs.
It was notable that the 25 basis point cut, with recent Trump appointee Stephan Miran the lone dissenter pushing for 50 basis points, gave the biggest boost to the more domestic-facing Russell 2000 small- and mid-cap index.
On a stock level there were some big gains in the technology sector (of which you can read more below).
The data analytics sector came under pressure after Factset Research (FDS:NYSE) served up worse than expected earnings for its fourth quarter and delivered soft revenue guidance for the current financial year. Among the names to be pulled lower in its wake were S&P Global (SPGI:NYSE) and Verisk Analytics (VRSK:NASDAQ).
Also under pressure was Darden Restaurants (DRI:NYSE) despite reporting double-digit sales growth. Investors focused instead on the impact integration and site closure-related costs were having on earnings.
INTEL
News the world’s most valuable company by market value – Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) – is set to invest $5 billion in its struggling rival Intel (INTC:NASDAQ) has really lit a fire under the latter’s share prices.
The investment comes as part of a deal to develop new chips for PCs and data centres. Intel is set to build custom central processing units for Nvidia to integrate into its AI platforms for data centres. The two are also combining on a separate project to develop chips for PCs.
While there is no mention of using Intel’s foundry to produce the chips, it still represents a vote of confidence from the leader of the pack in the semiconductor space.
Nvidia overtook Intel as the world’s largest chip maker in 2020 and its $144.3 billion market cap is now dwarfed by the former’s $4 trillion-plus valuation. Last month the Trump administration agreed to take a 10% stake in Intel as it looked to secure the future of chip manufacturing in the US.
CROWDSTRIKE
Cyber-security firm CrowdStrike (CRWD:NASDAQ) jumped more than 10% on 18 September after delivering 2027 guidance above consensus estimates at an investor day in Las Vegas.
The company, which continues to rebound from a global IT outage in 2024, said net new ARR (annual recurring revenue) is expected to grow more than 20% in fiscal 2027, ahead of analysts’ estimates which currently call for 17% growth.
Jefferies analyst Joseph Gallo said: ‘We ultimately believe a point of upside remains feasible to fiscal 2026 guidance and positive checks and AI prudence could drive upside in fiscal 2027.’
CrowdStrike also reiterated a goal to achieve $10 billion of subscription-based ARR by fiscal 2031. For context, total annual recuring revenue in the second quarter to the end of July surged 20% to $4.66 billion.
The shares are up 43% so far in 2025 compared with a 17% advance in the Nasdaq Composite index.
TESLA/UBER
Shares in electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ) surged this week, joining in with the latest bout of enthusiasm for tech shares, on news chief executive Elon Musk had bought himself $1 billion worth shares as a present after getting a $1 trillion pay offer from the board.
Yet in the background the firm was fighting fires, settling two lawsuits relating to separate crashes in California in 2019 involving its Autopilot software just weeks after a Florida jury ordered it to pay $243 million to the victims of another fatal crash.
Musk personally has a lot riding on the rollout of the firm’s FSD (full self-driving) technology, as part of his pay deal is based on having 10 million FSD subscribers and a fleet of one million functioning robotaxis within a decade.
The firm has also come under scrutiny from the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) after complaints its FSD failed to stop at railway crossings, and door locks on its Model Y cars became inoperative, trapping drivers in their vehicles.
Ironically, one stock not to hitch a ride on the tech buying frenzy this week was Uber (UBER:NYSE), after Wayno – part of Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ) – announced it would offer robotaxi rides in Nashville next year using the Lyft (LYFT:NASDAQ) app rather than Uber.
