U.S. Stocks End Lower; Tesla Plans World’s Largest Chip-Making Facility
U.S. stocks ended lower across the board on Aug. 6, with the S&P 500 down 0.18% at 7,709.96, the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.85% at 53,885.10, and the Nasdaq down 0.06% at 26,348.35. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was 4.69%, while the two-year yield, which is more sensitive to Federal Reserve policy rates, was 4.25%. Among widely traded U.S. stocks, Nvidia fell 0.11%, Apple rose 0.45%, Alphabet’s Class A shares fell 1.29%, Alphabet’s Class C shares fell 0.98%, Microsoft rose 2.54%, Amazon fell 0.14%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing rose 1.00%, Meta Platforms rose 0.19%, Tesla fell 0.63%, Advanced Micro Devices rose 1.50%, and Intel fell 1.24%. In European markets, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.35% to 8,699.71, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 fell 0.19% to 10,867.89, Germany’s DAX rose 0.05% to 26,140.13, and Russia’s RTS fell 1.27% to 884.56. Overnight, Hang Seng Tech Index futures fell 2.01%, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose 0.27%, and the FTSE China A50 Index fell 0.08%. Among major Chinese companies listed in the United States or Hong Kong, Tencent Holdings, traded in Hong Kong, fell 2.64%; Alibaba fell 1.35%; PDD Holdings fell 0.10%; NetEase rose 1.76%; Baidu fell 1.60%; Trip.com rose 0.61%; Li Auto fell 0.94%; and Nio fell 1.08%. In foreign exchange, the dollar-yuan rate was 6.75, up 3.5 basis points; the dollar-euro rate was 0.87, up 1.5 basis points; and the dollar-yen rate was 158.47, up 100 basis points. In commodities, COMEX silver fell 1.17% to $61.52 an ounce, COMEX gold fell 0.23% to $4,242.70 an ounce, West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.16% to $75.18 a barrel, Brent crude rose 0.94% to $79.42 a barrel, and LME copper rose 0.35% to $14,218.65 a metric ton. Federal Reserve official Musalem said the risk of inflation remaining above target had increased and that he had leaned toward a rate hike at the most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting, according to CaiLian Press. He also said the U.S. economy had shown resilience in recent months, according to Blue Whale News. Musalem said the balance of risks had shifted toward higher inflation and that imposing a substantive constraint on core inflation was crucial, according to Sina Finance. Alphabet issued $25 billion of investment-grade bonds in 10 maturities ranging from two to 40 years, according to Sina Finance. The longest-dated corporate bonds were priced at a spread of 1.3 percentage points over comparable U.S. Treasuries, compared with an initially discussed spread of 1.55 percentage points. The U.S. government is considering an executive order concerning autism and vaccines, according to Blue Whale News. An OpenAI product with a ring-shaped design resembling a small doughnut will cost more than $300, according to Blue Whale News. The design would allow the device to be moved freely around the home, and OpenAI believes it would not infringe Apple’s trade secrets. OpenAI said it would make GPT-5.6 LUNA the default model for free users, expand their access, and provide unlimited text-chat service, according to CaiLian Press. OpenAI is also updating GPT-5.6 SOL in chats for Plus and Pro users, saying it will be more reliable on factual accuracy and provide more focused answers. Nvidia is considering using less high-bandwidth memory in its Rubin Ultra GPU to address a shortage of advanced high-bandwidth-memory chips, according to CaiLian Press. Elon Musk said, by rough estimate, that about 25% of TeraFab’s AI-computing output would be used for Tesla’s Optimus and about 75% for AI spacecraft, according to Blue Whale News. Tesla plans to build its Terafab chip-manufacturing facility in Grimes County, Texas, according to Jiemian News. Tesla said it began construction in April on a research chip factory in the north area of its Texas Gigafactory, and that project would serve as the preliminary foundation for Terafab. Tesla said its and SpaceX’s future chip needs would far exceed current and future global chip capacity. The company plans to build what it described as the largest chip-manufacturing facility ever, with a target of producing more than 1 terawatt of computing capacity annually.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was 4.69%, while the two-year yield, which is more sensitive to Federal Reserve policy rates, was 4.25%.
Among widely traded U.S. stocks, Nvidia fell 0.11%, Apple rose 0.45%, Alphabet’s Class A shares fell 1.29%, Alphabet’s Class C shares fell 0.98%, Microsoft rose 2.54%, Amazon fell 0.14%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing rose 1.00%, Meta Platforms rose 0.19%, Tesla fell 0.63%, Advanced Micro Devices rose 1.50%, and Intel fell 1.24%.
In European markets, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.35% to 8,699.71, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 fell 0.19% to 10,867.89, Germany’s DAX rose 0.05% to 26,140.13, and Russia’s RTS fell 1.27% to 884.56.
Overnight, Hang Seng Tech Index futures fell 2.01%, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose 0.27%, and the FTSE China A50 Index fell 0.08%.
Among major Chinese companies listed in the United States or Hong Kong, Tencent Holdings, traded in Hong Kong, fell 2.64%; Alibaba fell 1.35%; PDD Holdings fell 0.10%; NetEase rose 1.76%; Baidu fell 1.60%; Trip.com rose 0.61%; Li Auto fell 0.94%; and Nio fell 1.08%.
In foreign exchange, the dollar-yuan rate was 6.75, up 3.5 basis points; the dollar-euro rate was 0.87, up 1.5 basis points; and the dollar-yen rate was 158.47, up 100 basis points.
In commodities, COMEX silver fell 1.17% to $61.52 an ounce, COMEX gold fell 0.23% to $4,242.70 an ounce, West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.16% to $75.18 a barrel, Brent crude rose 0.94% to $79.42 a barrel, and LME copper rose 0.35% to $14,218.65 a metric ton.
Federal Reserve official Musalem said the risk of inflation remaining above target had increased and that he had leaned toward a rate hike at the most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting, according to CaiLian Press. He also said the U.S. economy had shown resilience in recent months, according to Blue Whale News. Musalem said the balance of risks had shifted toward higher inflation and that imposing a substantive constraint on core inflation was crucial, according to Sina Finance.
Alphabet issued $25 billion of investment-grade bonds in 10 maturities ranging from two to 40 years, according to Sina Finance. The longest-dated corporate bonds were priced at a spread of 1.3 percentage points over comparable U.S. Treasuries, compared with an initially discussed spread of 1.55 percentage points.
The U.S. government is considering an executive order concerning autism and vaccines, according to Blue Whale News.
An OpenAI product with a ring-shaped design resembling a small doughnut will cost more than $300, according to Blue Whale News. The design would allow the device to be moved freely around the home, and OpenAI believes it would not infringe Apple’s trade secrets.
OpenAI said it would make GPT-5.6 LUNA the default model for free users, expand their access, and provide unlimited text-chat service, according to CaiLian Press. OpenAI is also updating GPT-5.6 SOL in chats for Plus and Pro users, saying it will be more reliable on factual accuracy and provide more focused answers.
Nvidia is considering using less high-bandwidth memory in its Rubin Ultra GPU to address a shortage of advanced high-bandwidth-memory chips, according to CaiLian Press.
Elon Musk said, by rough estimate, that about 25% of TeraFab’s AI-computing output would be used for Tesla’s Optimus and about 75% for AI spacecraft, according to Blue Whale News.
Tesla plans to build its Terafab chip-manufacturing facility in Grimes County, Texas, according to Jiemian News. Tesla said it began construction in April on a research chip factory in the north area of its Texas Gigafactory, and that project would serve as the preliminary foundation for Terafab.
Tesla said its and SpaceX’s future chip needs would far exceed current and future global chip capacity. The company plans to build what it described as the largest chip-manufacturing facility ever, with a target of producing more than 1 terawatt of computing capacity annually.