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Stock Market Live August 8: S&P 500 (VOO) Rises in Hope of Lower Interest Rates

By Joel South Updated Aug 8, 4:20PM EDT · Published Aug 8, 10:06AM EDT

Key Points

President Trump will gain another “yes” vote for lowering interest rates at the Fed.
Multiple new tariff rates went into effect at midnight last night.

Live Updates

Friday Wrap-up

Aug 8, 2025 at 4:20 PM EDT

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF closed at 585.87 Friday, up 0.8% for the day and up 2.5% for the week.

American Axle Revolves Higher

Aug 8, 2025 at 2:47 PM EDT

In even more earnings news, auto parts company American Axle (NYSE: AXL | AKAM Price Prediction) beat earnings by six cents this morning with a $0.21 per share Q2 profit. Revenue fell just short of expectations at $1.5 billion, but guidance for the rest of this year puts revenue close to $5.9 billion — and ahead of Wall Street estimates.

American Axle stock is up 14.5% on the news. The Voo is up 0.8%.

Wendy's Winning

Aug 8, 2025 at 12:12 PM EDT

This morning, Wendy’s (Nasdaq: KTOS), which is also not an S&P 500 component, reported Q2 earnings of $0.29 per share, three cents better than expected. Revenue also edged out expectations at $560.9 million, and Wendy’s stock is up 3%.

The Voo is up 0.7%.

Kratos Flies High

Aug 8, 2025 at 11:42 AM EDT

A bit more earnings news. Defense stock and military drones specialist (but not an S&P 500 component company) Kratos Defense & Security Technologies (Nasdaq: KTOS) beat earnings by two cents last night with an $0.11 Q2 profit. Revenue far outstripped expectations at $351.5 million. (Less than $310 million was predicted).

Kratos did issue light guidance for only $315 million to $325 million in Q3, but the Q2 revenue beat more than makes up the difference, and Kratos stock is up more than 9%.

This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) is bouncing off yesterday’s loss, up 0.3% premarket and aiming to close out the week on an up note Friday. And why?

Last night, President Trump named Stephen Miran, currently his chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, to replace retiring Adriana Kugler on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Miran will serve out at least the remainder of Kugler’s term of office, which expires in January. This subtracts one vote from the Fed against lowering interest rates, and replaces it with a vote in favor of reducing rates — a fact investors are taking as a positive for the stock market.

On the tariffs front, U.S. “reciprocal” tariffs against dozens of nations around the world went into effect at midnight Thursday. And also on the tariffs front, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that at least some Indian refiners have stopped buying Russian oil, and that Russia is beginning to divert oil sales from India to China, all in response to President Trump adding a 25% tariff surcharge to imports of Indian goods in punishment for that country’s purchases of Russian oil.

Finally, Russia itself comes up against a deadline today to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face even more U.S. sanctions. Ahead of the deadline, Russian President Putin has apparently agreed to meet with President Trump to discuss a ceasefire, perhaps as early as next week.

And now, on to earnings.

Earnings

Multiple S&P 500 component companies reported earnings after close of trading last night. Among them:

Advertising marketplace The Trade Desk (Nasdaq: TTD) beat by a penny in Q2, earning $0.41 per share. TTD booked $694 million in the quarter, nearly $10 million ahead of expectations.

IT company Akamai Technologies (Nasdaq: AKAM) beat by eighteen cents, earning $1.73 per share in the quarter on revenues that just edged past expectations — $1.04 billion.

Travel company Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) beat its Q2 forecast by $0.28, reporting a $4.24 per share profit on $3.8 billion in revenue, which was also above estimates.

On the other hand, Block (NYSE: XYZ), the payments company formerly known as Square, missed earnings by a nickel, reporting only a $0.62 per share profit in Q2.

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About the Author Joel South →

Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.

He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.