Meta Joins OpenAI, Anthropic With High-Profile Hack: 8 Key Items Shaping the Stock Market Thursday
These are the early headlines and other items poised to influence the market at the start of the trading day. As we share this collection of market drivers, U.S. equity futures point to a mixed market open later on Thursday.
1. A proposed deal between Iran and Oman to help end five months of war between Iran and the United States would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters on Wednesday, one of the biggest concessions yet to Iran. There was no immediate U.S. comment on the proposal. (Reuters)
The wait for an Iran-Oman deal that partially reopens the Strait of Hormuz continued into Thursday morning, after the Islamic Republic said an agreement on proposed shipping lanes was in the final stages. (Bloomberg)
Oil is trending higher on Thursday morning as we wait to see if a deal is struck and its terms. The expectation is shipping through the strait will face “no fees or tolls” under a temporary deal agreed between Iran and Oman, an Iranian government official linked with the deal told MS NOW. The deal is intended to allow talks to return to the ceasefire and memorandum of understanding agreed between the U.S. and Iran in mid-June, kickstarting another 60-day cycle of negotiations. As we digest any deal terms, the follow through we will focus on is the volume of traffic through the strait in the coming days.
2. Kevin Warsh is set to stick to his stripped-back communications style even after the Federal Reserve chair’s decision to offer scant details of his strategy on interest rates fuelled a powerful sell-off in Treasury bonds… People close to Warsh said he acknowledged that he had made mistakes in his first 10 weeks at the helm of the world’s most important central bank, including failing to reinforce his key messages on price stability and sowing confusion over whether his longer-term plans to reform the Fed could affect near-term policy decisions… Warsh would be prepared to raise interest rates at September’s meeting if inflation readings released in coming weeks are hot, and markets ratchet up their expectations for increases in borrowing costs, the people familiar with his thinking said. (FT)
Fed Chair Warsh wouldn’t be the first person to land in a role promising big changes, only to recalibrate as his messaging fell flat. While some have praised Warsh, we’ve been less than enamored with the new Fed chair, especially following his politician-esque performance at the most recent Fed policy press conference.
We’re also not fans of his suggestion for fewer Fed meetings given the role the central bank and monetary policy play in global markets. That said, as folks who follow the data and make our own determination on where Fed policy should go, we don’t expect to be spoon-fed, but again given the Fed’s role on the global stage, hopefully Warsh will be a wee bit more forthcoming ahead. Now to see what he says during this upcoming Jackson Hole speech on Friday, August 28.
The comment about Warsh, September and inflation readings jive with our thinking. We’ve pointed out the data sets to come, but candidly what happens with oil and other petrochemical prices between now and then will also shape, or potentially re-shape rate hike expectations.
3. Meta said on Wednesday one of its AI models hacked another company during cybersecurity testing, fanning concerns about how developers can contain increasingly capable AI systems after similar incidents at rivals Anthropic and OpenAI. (Reuters)
First OpenAI then Anthropic and now Meta ($META) have had AI models hack other companies. These events mixed with others that showcase bad actors leveraging AI to expand their vector and velocity of cyberattacks reaffirms our bullish stance on cybersecurity spending. It also reaffirms our view that cybersecurity should be a part of every investor’s portfolio. We continue to favor the diverse exposure offered by the First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF ($CIBR).
4. SpaceX investors, with their heads in the clouds after a first-quarter earnings call that included trillion-dollar AI-fueled revenue projections, have to come back to Earth to deal with more mundane matters, such as trading technicalities. A huge lump of SpaceX stock is unlocking, which will likely create even more volatility for shares of Elon Musk’s rocket and AI company. (Barron’s)
The unlocking of shares following an IPO is one of the factors that keeps us here at the Portfolio on the sidelines when a company initially becomes public. In the case of SpaceX ($SPCX), the volume of stock being unlocked in rather massive and spans multiple unlocking dates. The process starts today when “up to” 911.5 million shares unlock, according to the company’s amended prospectus. For context, that’s more than 140% of the stock available to trade after the IPO. But that’s just the start, another 319 million shares can unlock on August 12, followed by another 319 million shares that can unlock at the start of September.
When the dust has settled and the impact of that cumulative action has been absorbed by the market and reflected in the SPCX price, only then would we begin considering the shares for the Portfolio. At that point, fundamental analysis and its findings would be the driver for any SPCX decisions.
5. Costco Wholesale Corporation today reported net sales of $23.12 billion for the retail month of July, the four weeks ended August 2, 2026, an increase of 10.7 percent from $20.89 billion last year. (Costco)
Another impressive monthly sales figure for Costco ($COST) as are the adjusted total comp sales figures of 6.6%, 6.9% of the U.S. and 18.2% for digital shopping. What makes them even more impressive in our view is they stand on year-ago figures of 7.0%, 6.5% and 14.9%, respectively. Some will harp on the slower pace compared to June, but that misses the point of Costco lapping increasingly more difficult comparisons in 2025 and still delivering impressive adjusted comp sales figures.
What those adjusted comp sales figures do not show is the progress Costco is making on expanding its warehouse footprint, a driver of that higher margin membership fee revenue stream. Exiting July 2026, the company had 933 locations, up from 910 at the end of July 2025.
6. Planet Fitness Inc. cut its profit outlook as it invests in marketing and tinkers with pricing to boost sluggish member sign-ups. (Bloomberg)
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. shares slumped after the company’s second-quarter revenue and attendance fell short of estimates. (Bloomberg)
Lewis is trying to turn around a company where growth has languished and whose shares have more than halved since their pandemic peak. That’s come as consumers scale back alcohol consumption, while Diageo’s strategy to focus on premium drinks was out of touch in an era of inflation-stretched budgets. (Bloomberg)
Those reports bring some added context to Costco’s July adjusted comp sales report. More context to come when we get the July Retail Sales report next week on August 14.
7. Economic data today per TipRanks: Challenger Job Cuts (July), Initial & Continuing Jobless Claims (Weekly), Productivity & Unit Labor Cost (Q2 2026), Wholesale Inventories (June), EIA Natural Gas Inventories – (Weekly).
8. Companies reporting today per TipRanks: Open: Advanced Drainage Systems ($WMS), ConocoPhillips ($COP), Datadog ($DDOG), Keurig Dr Pepper ($KDP), Molson Coors ($TAP), Papa John’s ($PZZA), Peloton ($PTON), Planet Fitness ($PLNT), Ralph Lauren ($RL), Restaurant Brands ($QSR), US Foods ($USFD), Warner Bros Discover ($WBD), Zoetis ($ZTS). Close: Airbnb ($ABNB), AMN Healthcare ($AMN), Cloudflare ($NET), Dentsply Sirona ($XRAY), DraftKings ($DKNG), Gen Digital ($GEN), Instacart ($CART), James Hardie ($JHX), Lyft ($LYFT), MP Materials ($MP), Post ($POST), Republic Services ($RSG), Texas Roadhouse ($TXRH), Trade Desk ($TTD), Warner Music ($WMG)
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At the time of publication, TheStreet Pro Portfolio was long CIBR, COST and META.
