Stock Market Live August 15: As Trump Heads to Alaska, S&P 500 (VOO) Heads Higher
Key Points
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President Trump will meet President Putin in Alaska today.
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Finance giants Warren Buffett and Michael Burry both say they invested in UnitedHealth Group stock last quarter.
Live Updates
Friday Wrap-up
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF closed at 591.52 Friday, down 0.2% for the day but up 1% for the week.
GE Aerospace Flies Lower
Bernstein just raised its price target on Bernstein raised the firm’s price target on S&P component company GE Aerospace (NYSE: GE | GE Price Prediction) to $343 with an outperform rating. Bernstein says the stock’s valuation is attractive at current levels, and believes the outlook for commercial engine sales looks good.
GE stock is nevertheless down 0.9% today. The Voo is down 0.2%.
Salesforce Surging
DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria removed his underperform rating from S&P component company Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) this morning, and upgraded the software company to neutral with a $225 price target. Growth is slowing at the software maker, says Luria, but “Salesforce has underperformed [a major software sector index] by 48 points YTD, and 27 points since it reported F1Q26 results on May 28th.”
With bad news largely baked in, Luria thinks the selling should be mostly over by now. Investors seem to agree — Salesforce stock is up 3%.
Applied Materials Dematerializes
Multiple analysts are downgrading Applied Materials stock after its guidance miss last night. Bank of America and Summit Insights both just cut the stock to neutral, and DZ Bank downgraded this morning to sell — with a $150 price target on the $165 stock.
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
President Donald Trump headed for Alaska accompanied by senior U.S. officials this morning, with plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine — and perhaps to ink a few trade deals along the way.
Investors seem cautiously optimistic about the event, with the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) rising about 0.2% premarket. Other factors influencing the market today:
Bloomberg is reporting on rumors that the President intends to have the United States invest directly in Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) stock, similarly to how the U.S. Department of Defense invested directly in shares of rare earth mining company MP Materials (NYSE: MP in July.)
Legendary investors Warren Buffett (of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B)) and Michael Burry (of Scion Asset Management and The Big Short fame) revealed that they both invested in UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) in Q2. Investors are taking this as a “call the bottom” moment and buying into UnitedHealth stock this morning, sending the insurance giant’s shares up more than 10%.
Earnings
Turning now to earnings:
Semiconductor equipment manufacturer and &P 500 component company Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) beat earnings by twelve cents last night, reporting a $2.48 per share profit on sales of $7.3 billion — which also beat estimates. Management forecast weaker than expected earnings in Q4 however — $1.91 to $2.31 per share, with sales falling as much as $1.1 billion below Wall Street’s forecast of $7.3 billion.
Investors are ignoring Q2’s beat, and focusing on the potential disaster that is Q3 instead. Applied Materials stock is crashing 13% premarket.
This morning, Wonder Bread and Tastycake baker Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) reported in-line earnings of $0.30 per share. Sales came up slightly short at $1.2 billion. Guidance through the end of 2025 likewise shows a probable sales shortfall, with revenue of no more than $5.3 billion.
On the plus side, Flowers forecast full-year profit between $1.08 and $1.17 per share, which at the midpoint is better than the $1.09 per share that Wall Street was expecting. Still, Flowers stock is trading down more than 3% premarket.
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.
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