US Close, 28 August 2026: S&P 500 Falls 0.25% to 7,711.76 as Warsh Puts a September Hike in Play
S&P 500 close: 7,711.76 (-0.25%) Breadth: 115 advancers / 134 decliners across the 250 largest US listings Sentiment: mixed
The S&P 500 closed at 7,711.76 on 28 August 2026, down 0.25%, after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh told the Jackson Hole symposium that this summer's PCE and CPI readings "do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved," which moved September rate hike pricing on CME FedWatch to 56% from 36%. MRVL.US fell 10.28% on current-quarter gross margin guidance of 57.5% to 58.5% against a 58.5% consensus, and the semiconductor fund SMH fell 3.47%. The dollar index rose 0.52% to 99.677 and the US 10-year yield added 4.8 basis points to 4.720%, which sent GLD down 3.24% and the bitcoin miners down 9% to 13%.
What moved the index
- Technology fell 1.55% on a roughly 34% index weight, worth about 53 basis points against a 25 basis point index decline. Semiconductors led: SMH -3.47%, MRVL.US -10.28%, ARM.US -6.33%, LRCX.US -5.24% and NVDA.US -4.57%, which gave back more than half of Thursday's 8.74% post-earnings gain. Equal-weight technology (RSPT) fell 1.60%, so the selling reached the whole sector and not just the largest names. AAPL.US +1.63% with MSFT.US +1.68% only partly offset it.
- Communication services rose 1.42% on an 11% weight, adding about 16 basis points. SPOT.US +3.84%, TMUS.US +2.63%, CMCSA.US +2.46% and GOOGL.US +1.74%.
- Consumer discretionary rose 1.15% on an 11% weight, adding about 13 basis points, almost all of it AMZN.US +3.97% after AWS committed to deploy 2 million more Nvidia chips across 2027 and 2028, tripling its committed GPU count above 3 million units.
- Industrials -0.93% and utilities -1.04% cost a combined 10 basis points, with the AI power names leading both: GEV.US -4.39% and VRT.US -4.53%.
All eleven SPDR sector funds weighted by their approximate S&P 500 weights sum to about -28 basis points against the actual -25 basis point close, so the sector split accounts for the move. Financials (XLF +0.38%) and energy (XLE +0.63%) rose, and account for the small offsetting residual.
Session highlights
- MRVL.US -10.28% to $216.62 even though fiscal Q2 revenue rose 37% to $2.7 billion, $39 million above its own guidance, and full-year revenue growth was raised to about $18 billion from $16.5 billion. The gross margin guide landed at the bottom of the consensus range.
- NVDA.US -4.57% to $217.55 one session after an 8.74% rally that had carried the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to their strongest day since 4 August.
- AMZN.US +3.97% to $266.43 on the AWS chip commitment, the largest single positive contributor to the index.
- PYPL.US -12.71% to $53.66 after Bloomberg reported Advent and Stripe abandoned a buyout pursuit that would have ranked among the largest leveraged buyouts.
- The Russell 2000 fell 1.39% to 2,972.37, the widest index decline of the session, and the equal-weight S&P 500 fund RSP fell 0.34% against SPY -0.23%.
Sector scorecard
- Best: communication services, XLC +1.42%
- Worst: technology, XLK -1.55%
- Dispersion (best minus worst): 2.97 points
- Five of the eleven sector funds rose. Technology split hardest internally: AAPL.US +1.63% and MSFT.US +1.68% against MRVL.US -10.28% and ARM.US -6.33%.
Top movers
| Ticker | Move | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| ESTC.US | +19.31% | Full-year guidance of $3.29 to $3.37 adjusted EPS topped consensus |
| GAP.US | +12.94% | Q2 adjusted EPS $0.52 against $0.48, raised outlook, new Old Navy CEO |
| SOLS.US | +12.76% | Terminated the Element Solutions merger, added a $500 million buyback |
| NLST.US | +8.88% | Fifth straight advance, no dated announcement |
| TRLV.US | +7.16% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven |
| SLS.US | -13.15% | Reversed Thursday's 10.78% gain on an Alliance Global target raise |
| RBRK.US | -13.05% | Fell on a beat and raise, $0.20 adjusted EPS against $0.04 consensus |
| PYPL.US | -12.71% | Advent and Stripe dropped their takeover pursuit |
| IREN.US | -12.53% | Bitcoin -3.43% hit the mining and AI datacenter group |
| AXTI.US | -12.39% | Semiconductor substrate maker, no dated announcement |
Gold, bitcoin and the rate-sensitive trade
GLD fell 3.24% to $408.89, SLV 4.38% to $60.02 and the gold miner fund GDX 3.90% to $99.65, with NEM.US -3.26% and AEM.US -4.27%. Kitco reported spot gold at a one-week low of $4,528.94 during the session, with December hike odds on CME FedWatch at 80%.
Bitcoin fell 3.43% to $77,507 from Thursday's close. Mining and AI datacenter names fell further: IREN.US -12.53%, MARA.US -10.11%, CLSK.US -9.96%, CIFR.US -9.54%, RIOT.US -9.05%, BTDR.US -8.91% and HUT.US -8.85%. MSTR.US -7.34%, COIN.US -6.33% and HOOD.US -5.01% followed the same move.
The S&P 500 traded as high as 7,768.04 after the 10:00 ET keynote and closed 56 points below that high, with a session low of 7,702.81.
After the bell
No S&P 500 company reported after Friday's close, so there was no after-hours earnings reaction to read. Thursday's after-market reporters finished settling during Friday's session instead: WDAY.US +5.76% on a Q2 beat on both lines, ADSK.US -3.67% on Q3 adjusted EPS guidance of $3.04 to $3.09 against a $3.14 consensus, and AFRM.US closed +0.35% after opening 13% higher on $1.17 billion of fiscal Q4 revenue against a $1.11 billion estimate.
Where the week ended
S&P 500 +0.49%, Nasdaq +0.85% and Dow +0.53% across the five sessions from 21 August, so Friday's decline left all three higher on the week. Russell 2000 -1.51%, SMH -1.30% and GLD -3.42% over the same stretch. The fed funds target range stands at 3.50% to 3.75%, and prediction market Kalshi put September hike odds at 48% after the speech against roughly 30% before it.
Next session catalysts (ET)
- Mon 31 Aug: final session of August, month-end rebalancing flows
- Thu 3 Sep: LULU.US fiscal Q2 results
- Fri 4 Sep 08:30: August employment report
- Wed 16 Sep 14:00: FOMC decision with the updated Summary of Economic Projections
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