Pre-Market Brief | Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Research Desk · August 12, 2026
Two AI infrastructure companies just said the buildout is still funded. July inflation lands at 8:30.
Cisco reports tonight.
Where Futures Sit
Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.6 percent.
S&P 500 futures up 0.2 percent. Dow futures flat.
Tuesday closed lower as hopes for a quick end to the Middle East conflict faded again.
Macro Pulse
July CPI at 8:30 AM ET. Economists look for 3.4 percent annual, down from 3.5 percent in June.
A hot number revives the September hike case. A soft one lets the Fed sit still.
The 10-year yield is near 4.7 percent. Brent is close to $90 with Hormuz still shut.
It wasn't stocks. It wasn't real estate.
It was a little-known investment vehicle that turned Mitt Romney's $450,000 into as much as $100 million and Peter Thiel used to turn $2,000 into $5 billion within two decades.
Now, thanks to a new executive order, regular Americans can access the same type of investment.
Get more details here >>
Stock Highlight: CSCO
Cisco reports after the close, up roughly 60 percent this year and last at $122.57.
The mechanism is plumbing. When hyperscalers build data centers, someone sells the switching gear that moves data between the chips.
Management lifted its full-year AI order target to $9 billion from $5 billion. The revenue it expects to recognize from that book this year is about $4 billion. That is a contractor with a full order book and a crew that can only pour so much concrete a month.
The Street wants $1.17 per share on $16.83 billion. Fiscal 2027 guidance matters more. Options price a move of roughly 8 percent either way.
He’s overcome insane and criminal vote rigging. And survived every indictment and impeachment thrown at him.
But his next move could make him a legend – and perhaps the most popular president in U.S. History.
Former Presidential Advisor, Jim Rickards says, “Trump is on the verge of accomplishing something no President has ever done before."
Tickers To Watch
CRWV: Up about 18 percent. Revenue doubled to $2.58 billion, guidance raised, capex guided to $35 to $39 billion. Still not profitable.
SMCI: Up around 9 percent on more than $60 billion in new orders.
NBIS: Up sharply ahead of its own report today.
MSFT: Lower on the Maia 300 debut and a $116 billion capex plan.
XOM, CVX: Brent near $90 keeps energy bid while everything else waits on CPI.
Simply put, buy and hold is dead.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley now both agree.
And they warn stocks are in for a "Lost Decade" until the 2030s - meaning any gains you see in the next few years will just be eaten up by new "surprise" crashes later on.
Bottom Line
This capex cycle is financed, not funded. CoreWeave plans to spend nearly three dollars of capital per dollar of revenue.
That works while credit stays cheap and capacity stays sold out. A 4.7 percent 10-year tests both.
If you are within a decade of drawing income, you already own this theme through index weight. You do not need to add to it before an inflation print and a Cisco guide land in the same 12 hours.
Because two massive economic forces are colliding in real-time, and the result is set to upend everything we thought we knew about investing. The first force:
We're living through the fastest rate of technological change in human history.
AI isn't just disrupting a few tech companies — it's threatening to make the world ... (click to keep reading)
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