Welcome to Wall Street Wrap, your quick end-of-day rundown of what moved US markets today, plus what's shaping global sentiment overnight.

MARKETS TODAY

Wall Street had its best session in a month on Thursday, with all three major indices closing up more than 1%. The rally kicked off after Fed Governor Christopher Waller signaled he'd support holding rates steady this month if inflation data keeps cooperating, a notable contrast to Chair Kevin Warsh's hawkish tone from Jackson Hole last week. Treasury yields pulled back from Wednesday's multiyear highs, the dollar weakened as the yen surged, and risk appetite broadened out well beyond mega-cap tech. Bitcoin and gold both had standout days too, each up more than 2%.

Close Levels:

ANALYTICAL VIEW

Today's rally traces back almost entirely to one voice: Fed Governor Christopher Waller. Speaking a day after the 10-year Treasury yield touched its highest level since November 2023, Waller said he'd be inclined to support holding rates steady this month provided upcoming inflation data doesn't surprise to the upside. He argued the underlying disinflation trend is better than the recent core numbers suggest, pointing to a three-month annualized inflation pace that's cooled sharply since February. Markets took the comments as a green light: odds of a rate hike at this month's Fed meeting dropped to roughly 50%, down more than 12 points in a single day, and the 10-year yield eased back toward 4.77%.

The move also stood out for its breadth. This wasn't just a mega-cap tech bounce: financials, industrials, and small caps all participated, and the Dow notched its best day since early August. Still, not everyone is convinced the pressure is fully off. Oil remains elevated above $91 a barrel on the ongoing Middle East conflict, and some strategists note that sustained high energy prices could still force the Fed's hand regardless of what today's remarks signaled.

What could change the picture: Friday's August jobs report is the next major test. Waller's comments were framed around inflation data specifically, not payrolls, so a weak jobs number could still cut both ways: reinforcing rate-cut hopes on one hand, or reviving stagflation concerns on the other if it comes alongside sticky prices.

SECTOR PERFORMANCE

WINNERS & LOSERS

Top 5 Gainers (across S&P, Nasdaq, Dow):

• MSTR (NASDAQ:MSTR) (Strategy): +17.56%
• HOOD (NASDAQ:HOOD) (Robinhood Markets): +16.57%
• COIN (NASDAQ:COIN) (Coinbase Global): +10.14%
• PLTR (NASDAQ:PLTR) (Palantir Technologies): +7.71%
• PFG (NASDAQ:PFG) (Principal Financial Group): +7.28%

Top 5 Decliners:

• CIEN (NYSE:CIEN) (Ciena Corporation): -10.36%
• TSN (NYSE:TSN) (Tyson Foods): -7.26%
• CHTR (NASDAQ:CHTR) (Charter Communications): -4.78%
• ALB (NYSE:ALB) (Albemarle Corp): -4.06%
• KHC (NASDAQ:KHC) (The Kraft Heinz Company): -3.20%

Note: Bitcoin and crypto-adjacent names (Strategy, Coinbase, Robinhood) led the tape today, tracking a sharp Bitcoin rally on hopes the Fed holds rates steady.

AFTER-HOURS MOVERS

Gainers:

• DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU), +7.37% after hours: Q2 FY27 revenue rose 9% to $875.7 million, non-GAAP diluted EPS jumped to $1.16 from $0.92 a year ago, and the company raised full-year guidance for revenue, ARR, and IAM's share of total ARR.
• Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ:SWBI), +12.06% after hours: Q1 FY27 net sales rose 32.3% to $112.6 million, swinging to a GAAP profit of $0.06 per share from a year-ago loss, and the company raised its full-year revenue growth outlook to 5-7%.

Decliners:

• Guidewire (NYSE:GWRE), -19.43% after hours: Fiscal Q4 revenue and adjusted EPS both beat estimates, with full-year revenue up 23% and ARR up 19%. Shares had rallied hard into the print, though, with several analysts flagging the stock as trading above fair value beforehand, and the post-earnings drop suggests investors judged underlying metrics like billings or cloud growth insufficient to justify the recent run-up.
• Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU), -17.39% after hours: Fiscal Q2 revenue missed estimates and fell year-over-year, with China Mainland growth slowing to 4% and North America revenue down 8%. The company slashed full-year EPS guidance well below analyst estimates, overshadowing an otherwise large adjusted EPS beat.

COMMODITIES & RATES

TOP STORIES: US

• Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) to acquire Hugging Face for nearly $13 billion. Nvidia announced a deal to buy AI developer platform Hugging Face, in one of the chip giant's largest acquisitions to date. The move is aimed at deepening Nvidia's ties to the open-source AI developer community as rivals increasingly build their own custom chips to reduce reliance on Nvidia hardware.
• Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) names next CEO in planned succession. Adobe's board named Anil Chakravarthy, currently president of the company's Customer Experience Orchestration business, as the company's next president and CEO effective December 1. Longtime CEO Shantanu Narayen will move into the role of executive chair to support the transition.
• Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) jumps on a strong beat and guidance raise. Zscaler topped fiscal fourth-quarter estimates on both revenue and earnings, with annual recurring revenue up 25% year-over-year. CEO Jay Chaudhry pointed to early momentum in the company's new AI-agent security tools as a long-term growth driver, and full-year guidance issued alongside the results also came in above analyst expectations.
• Vance adds to pressure on the Fed to cut rates. Vice President JD Vance said the Fed should lower interest rates to make homes more affordable, adding to the White House's ongoing push for lower borrowing costs. The comments came just days after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh had hinted at the opposite, raising rates to address persistent inflation, highlighting a growing divide between the administration's preferences and the central bank's more hawkish recent tone.
• OpenAI begins rollout of new flagship model, GPT-6 Astra. OpenAI said it is beginning a phased rollout of its newest AI model, starting with a limited group of companies in its cybersecurity testing program. The company said Astra is the first of its models to reach its internal "Critical" cybersecurity risk threshold, and it has added extra safeguards following a security incident involving earlier models earlier this year.
• Trade deficit widens to a 16-month high. The US trade gap expanded to $88.6 billion in July, the largest since March 2025, as exports of crude oil and gold declined while imports of computers and semiconductors rose. The widening deficit was driven largely by trade gaps with Mexico, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

TOP STORIES: GLOBAL

• Iran's economy buckles under tightening US sanctions. Senior Iranian sources say Washington's expanded campaign to block Iran's oil exports and cut off sanctions-evasion channels is becoming increasingly difficult for Tehran to withstand. Iran's currency has collapsed to record lows, inflation is running near 70% annually, and crude loadings have fallen more than 80% from a year ago, adding pressure on Iran's leadership as the broader conflict with the US continues.
• Yen surges on Bank of Japan rate-hike bets. The Japanese yen jumped more than 2% against the dollar, its second sharp move in as many days, as traders raised bets on a Bank of Japan rate increase and speculated about possible currency intervention. The move added to the broader pullback in Treasury yields.
• Dutch central bank relocates gold reserves to London. The Netherlands' central bank moved roughly 86 metric tons of gold from vaults in the US and Canada to the Bank of England, citing a need to strengthen crisis preparedness amid rising geopolitical tension. The shift follows a similar move by France's central bank over the past year.
• Dry bulk shipping rates hit multi-year highs. The Baltic Dry Index surged for a second straight session to its highest level since 2021, driven by strong demand for iron ore and coal alongside a tight supply of available vessels and longer shipping routes tied to geopolitical disruptions.
• UN warns this year's El Nino could be the strongest on record. The World Meteorological Organization said the current El Nino pattern, which began in June, is on track to be the most powerful ever recorded and is expected to persist into 2027. The agency warned of severe agricultural disruption, including what could be India's weakest monsoon in nearly two decades, alongside a heightened risk of drought in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia.

MANAGEMENT & FED SPEAK

Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Governor, on the outlook for rates:

Waller said he would be inclined to support holding the federal funds rate at its current level if incoming data continues to show inflation easing, adding that recent trends suggest disinflation is finally taking hold even though inflation remains "meaningfully above" the Fed's target. He argued the three-month annualized inflation pace has improved substantially since February and said a further month of patience carries little cost.

Jay Chaudhry, CEO, Zscaler, on the company's AI security push:

Chaudhry said he is highly confident in the company's newly launched Zero Trust security tools built for AI agents, describing it as a long-term opportunity with significant barriers to entry. He pushed back on the market's recent skepticism toward the stock, arguing that as AI agent adoption grows, Zscaler's role will become increasingly clear to investors.

CORPORATE ACTIONS & EARNINGS CALENDAR

Economic Calendar (Upcoming):

Notable Earnings Today (Thursday, Sept 3):

Dividend Declared Today:

Dividends Payable Tomorrow (Friday, Sept 4):

That's the wrap for today. All eyes now shift to Friday's jobs report, the next real test for where rates, yields, and stocks go from here.