--- title: "Midday Markets: Major Indexes Edge Lower as All Eyes Turn to Nvidia Earnings" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/297077553.md" description: "U.S. stocks slipped early Tuesday as investors stayed cautious ahead of Nvidia's earnings. Meta surged on a $16.7B settlement deal while Snap tumbled nearly 9%. Headline PCE inflation hovered near a three-year high." datetime: "2026-08-26T18:22:53.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/297077553.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297077553.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/297077553.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # Midday Markets: Major Indexes Edge Lower as All Eyes Turn to Nvidia Earnings U.S. equities drifted lower in early trading on August 26, with all three major indexes edging into the red by midday. The S&P 500 inched down, the Nasdaq slipped modestly, and the Dow Jones traded in tandem. Caution dominated the tape as markets braced for Nvidia's highly anticipated earnings release. On the macro front, the U.S. core PCE price index rose **3.3%** year-over-year for July, matching expectations, while the headline PCE climbed **3.7%** — hovering near a three-year high — keeping inflationary pressures firmly in view and stoking Fed rate-hike expectations. Across sectors, semiconductor names were broadly lower as Nvidia saw guarded trading ahead of its results, with Super Micro Computer and Intel also softening. The social media space was sharply divided: Meta drew a boost from a landmark settlement, while Snap slumped nearly 9%. EV makers, nuclear energy plays, and crypto-linked stocks all pulled back to varying degrees. **Chip Stocks Mostly Weaker; Nvidia Down Over 1% Ahead of Earnings** At midday, Nvidia (NVDA) shed **1.13%** to **$210.64** on volume exceeding 67 million shares, among the heaviest in the market. Intel (INTC) edged down 0.09% to $87.40, while Super Micro Computer (SMCI) slid 1.85% to $37.75. Nvidia's upcoming report is widely viewed as the grand finale of the tech earnings season, with investors zeroed in on whether AI demand continues to accelerate and what management signals about Blackwell architecture shipments. The company also announced that Alibaba's latest preview model, Qwen3.8-Flash-Next, has been validated on its GB300 NVL72 platform, delivering over **16,000 tokens per second** per card. Analysts expect robust revenue growth, though concerns linger around the return on capital 投入。 **Meta Rallies on Landmark Settlement; Snap Tumbles Nearly 9%** Meta Platforms agreed to pay up to **$16.68 billion** to settle claims brought by 29 U.S. states over youth addiction and data collection practices. The deal requires Meta to cap daily usage at two hours for users under 18, ban nighttime access, and strengthen age-verification measures. Analysts say the settlement amount is well below potential penalties, clearing a major near-term litigation overhang and sending Meta shares up more than 4% in premarket trading. On the flip side, Snap (SNAP) sank **8.95%** to $5.39 on trading volume surpassing 48 million shares. Roughly 30% of the Meta settlement is contingent on whether rival platforms YouTube and TikTok adopt comparable safety frameworks, putting the spotlight on regulatory spillover risks across the social media landscape. **EV and Clean Energy Plays Retreat; Tesla Down Nearly 1.5%** At midday, Tesla (TSLA) fell **1.48%** to $345.05; Plug Power (PLUG) dropped 4.84% to $2.16; and NuScale Power (SMR) tumbled 7.39% to $9.085. With inflation persistently above the Fed's 2% target, mounting rate-hike expectations are weighing on high-valuation growth stocks, while nuclear energy names faced profit-taking following recent sharp gains. Elsewhere, crypto-linked stocks weakened, with Mara Holdings (MARA) down **5.03%** to $11.235; Nike (NKE) shed 1.96% to $38.705; and Pfizer (PFE) slipped 0.82% to $28.335. Among China ADRs, Alibaba released its open-source Qwen3.8-Flash AI model with 125 billion parameters, aimed at lowering training and inference costs, as the company raised 80 billion yuan via a share placement this week to fund its AI initiatives. ### Related Stocks - [NVDA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDA.US.md) - [META.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/META.US.md) - [SNAP.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SNAP.US.md) - [TSLA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSLA.US.md) - [SMCI.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SMCI.US.md) - [INTC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/INTC.US.md) - [PLUG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/PLUG.US.md) - [SMR.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SMR.US.md) - [MARA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MARA.US.md) - [NKE.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NKE.US.md) - [PFE.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/PFE.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Meta joins a list of corporations that have settled cases for billions of dollars](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297075086.md) - [Nvidia (NVDA) Earns Price-Target Upgrades After Monster Q2](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297214744.md) - [What's Going On With Snap Stock Wednesday?](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297821316.md) - [Nvidia Just Delivered Bad News for AMD and Intel](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297432140.md) - [Did Nike’s Inventory Cleanup and Strength Push Just Reframe NIKE's (NKE) Investment Narrative?](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297731911.md) --- > **Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.**