Trade Secrets: Dailies 08.12.2026

US Stocks open firmly higher as July CPI comes in exactly as expected at 3.4% annually — matching forecasts and easing from June's 3.5% — keeping September Fed rate hike odds in check, while CoreWeave's 16% surge and Super Micro Computer's 8% beat reinforce confidence in the AI infrastructure buildout and push the Nasdaq toward a fresh record.

Dow Jones futures climbed 0.2%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.4%, and Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.8% in premarket after the July CPI report showed headline inflation at 3.4% year-on-year — matching the 3.4% Morningstar consensus and easing from June's 3.5% — with a monthly rise of just 0.1% from June. Core CPI, excluding food and energy, rose 0.2% month-on-month and 2.5% year-on-year, also in line with expectations. The benign print keeps the Federal Reserve divided on September but removes the upside inflation surprise that markets had most feared — Polymarket's August 12 contract implied a 56% probability of a higher open before the data, and futures extended gains on the release. Despite the relief, inflation remains well above the Fed's 2% target and multiple FOMC members have flagged a hike remains possible.
CoreWeave (CRWV) surged 16–17% in premarket — its biggest single-session gain since going public — after reporting Q2 results that showed stronger-than-expected sales growth driven by AI cloud computing demand, with an adjusted operating margin that beat expectations and a revenue backlog of $104 billion at the end of the quarter — an extraordinary figure that gives the company multi-year revenue visibility. Super Micro Computer (SMCI) climbed more than 8% after beating Q4 adjusted EPS estimates and issuing Q1 revenue guidance that crushed Wall Street's forecast, providing further confirmation that data center infrastructure demand remains robust heading into Nvidia's earnings report later this month.
Cisco Systems (CSCO), Cerebras Systems (CBRS), and Nebius Group (NBIS) — in which Nvidia holds a 9.3% stake — all report after today's close, alongside Performance Food Group, Trimble, and Brinker International. Cisco's result will be read as a measure of enterprise AI networking investment, while Cerebras and Nebius are directly in the AI compute infrastructure story that CoreWeave confirmed overnight. The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.672% ahead of the CPI print, having pulled back from its earlier spike toward 2026 closing highs. The euro was at $1.1557, near a seven-week top, and the dollar was flat against the yen at 157.85 as investors remained wary of further coordinated intervention.
Samsung Electronics surged 6.68% to 255,500 won and SK Hynix jumped 5.54% to 1,504,000 won — with both chip giants reaching intraday highs above 8% — after Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings disclosed plans to invest directly in both chipmakers, a significant institutional endorsement of the South Korean memory sector at a time when the KOSPI is attempting to rebuild from its historic July decline. LG Innotek climbed over 10% on the Temasek news. The Korea Exchange triggered a buy sidecar mechanism for the KOSPI 200 after futures rose 5%, briefly suspending program buy orders for five minutes — the third buy-sidecar trigger in two weeks, a stark contrast to the series of sell-sidecar halts that dominated July.
Brent crude held near $84–$90 per barrel — sources varied slightly on the exact level — as Iran-Oman shipping lane talks advanced but Iran continued to harden its conditions for a full Hormuz reopening. The broader Asia-Pacific index advanced approximately 0.8% on the combined tailwinds of the AI earnings beats and CPI optimism, keeping the global risk-on tone intact even as geopolitical uncertainty persisted. Gold held at $4,342 an ounce, having climbed more than 7% the prior week, with the 10-year yield's retreat supporting non-interest-paying assets. Bitcoin faced pressure near $60,000 as the CPI overhang kept crypto sentiment cautious ahead of the data.
South Korea's KOSPI surged 3.68% to close at 6,579.04, led by Samsung and SK Hynix, with the broader index gaining strongly enough to trigger the buy sidecar mechanism. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.83% to 67,524.06 on its return from Tuesday's Mountain Day public holiday, with Tokyo Electron climbing 4.1% and Advantest rising 6.4% as investors rotated back into chip equipment names. The Nikkei Volatility Index closed up 28.29% at 32.06, reflecting continued hedging demand despite the directional gains. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.32%, led by property and tech sectors, as sentiment improved on the AI infrastructure earnings. Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.98% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.58%, both lagging the broader regional advance. India's Nifty 50 also fell, with MSCI's Asia-Pacific gauge up approximately 0.6%–0.8% overall.

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