The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq finished Friday in the red, dragged down by a rising core PCE inflation print and weakness in the semiconductors sector, following news of Alibaba's new AI chip. Yet, all three indices had a strong August and sit near all-time highs

Small caps (The Russell 2000 index), were the biggest winners in August, rising 7% as Chair Powell's comments raised hopes for a September rate cut.

Gold was a strong performer, gaining 5%, while Bitcoin struggled to continue its momentum after hitting a peak of $124,500 mid-August.

NVDIA delivered yet another impressive earnings report for Q2 ‘26 (they use a non-calendar fiscal year), driven by its core Data Center business. Revenue came in at $46.74B, ahead of the $46.23B estimate. Adj EPS came in at $1.05, ahead of the $1.01 estimate. They also announced a $60B share buyback program. Profitability remains strong, with an adjusted gross margin of 72.7% and a Q3 guidance of 73.5%.

Also, CEO Jensen Huang remains highly confident in the future of AI investment, as major companies make further inroads into Agentic AI and Physical AI (Robotics).

The most notable headwind was the lack of revenue from China's H20 chip due to a reported government-led pause in sales. This represented a potential $2B to $5B in missed Q3 sales. There are now two varying reports on how this may play out: one suggests that NVIDIA is in talks with the U.S. government to sell its advanced Blackwell AI chips to China, with Washington potentially taking a cut of the sales, while another indicates that Alibaba is developing a new AI chip to fill the gap left by NVIDIA.

Additionally, while the earnings results are still incredibly impressive, the astronomical growth rates seen in prior quarters are now moderating. The company’s newly expanded $60B buyback program could also be seen as a defensive move, signaling that management expects earnings expansion from hyper-growth to gradually decline.

While we may be in the early innings of the AI race, and NVIDIA remains the leader in AI infrastructure. However, its market cap of $4.5 trillion and rich forward P/E multiple of ~45x warrant a cautious approach to adding aggressively. As competitors like AMD, Huawei (particularly for China), and other emerging players continue to catch up, the AI chip market could become commoditized a lot sooner than many think.

Palantir makes software that helps big organizations pull all their messy data together in one place and then use it to make decisions faster. For example:

Its tools:

In Q2 2025, Palantir achieved a major milestone : $1 billion in quarterly revenue, marking a 48% YoY increase. Its U.S. commercial business grew 93% YoY, while government contracts grew 53%

However, Palantir trades at an EXTREMELY pricey forward P/E multiple of ~365.

Next week, the U.S. labor market will be the sole focus for market participants. While data like manufacturing PMIs and ADP employment will grab some attention, all eyes are on Friday's pivotal jobs report.

A soft report, especially an unemployment rate at or above 4.3%, would lock in a 25 basis point rate cut at the Fed's September meeting.

Given that we are now entering the historically weakest month of the year for stocks, it would be wise to remain on the sidelines until the report's release.

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With a presence in 54 countries and territories, it offers a wide range of products, including commercial and personal property insurance, personal accident and health insurance, and life insurance.

Chubb is a strong defensive play as we enter a seasonally weak period for markets. The company's fundamentals are solid, trading at a reasonable forward P/E ratio of 10.8 with a strong balance sheet and consistent double-digit free cash flow growth.

The stock is testing its 50-day simple moving average (SMA) after re-testing its 21-day SMA, confirming a medium-term since bouncing off it’s long-term support level of $267.55.

Serve Robotics, a company spun out of Uber in 2021, designs, develops, and operates AI-powered, low-emissions sidewalk robots that automate deliveries for major partners like Uber Eats and 7-Eleven. The company’s core focus is to make urban delivery more sustainable and efficient through its autonomous fleet.

The investment thesis for Serve Robotics is simple: the future of last-mile delivery is autonomous. With over 50% of food deliveries happening within 2.5 miles of a restaurant, human-driven delivery is often inefficient and costly. Serve is tackling this problem head-on by providing a scalable, autonomous solution that can perform more deliveries per day at a lower cost.

Serve's key advantage lies in its strategic relationship with Uber Eats. The two have a deep-rooted partnership, with Uber remaining a major institutional shareholder. This alliance gives Serve a massive, built-in customer base and a clear path to scale.

Serve is in the early stages of its growth, so traditional metrics are less useful. The company reported a Q2 2025 revenue of $642,000, representing a 46% sequential increase. It is still operating at a significant net loss as it invests heavily in R&D and fleet expansion. However, the company maintains a very strong liquidity position with over $183 million in cash, providing it with ample runway to execute its ambitious growth plan.

This stock is a high-risk, high-reward play. The company is not yet profitable, and its success hinges on its ability to scale its fleet and improve operational efficiency. The autonomous delivery space is also highly competitive, and Serve faces rivals like Nuro and Starshipship. Investors should be prepared for significant volatility and view this as a long-term, speculative position on the future of autonomous delivery.

Ali is a full-time equity trader and investor, and the founder of First Mile Investing. He left his corporate career in 2024 to pursue his passion for the markets. He founded First Mile Investing to help beginners take their first confident steps into investing, with the goal of making the process less intimidating, more accessible, and empowering for everyone.