Stock Market Update: Nasdaq, Dow, and S&P 500 Futures Climb Before Powell's Address at Jackson Hole—EpicQuest, Zoom, and Azitra Stocks Highlighted
U.S. Stock Futures Rise: Following declines on Thursday, U.S. stock futures increased, with major indices showing positive movement ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.
Economic Indicators: Initial jobless claims rose to 235,000, while existing home sales increased by 2% in July. The S&P Global services PMI fell to 55.4, and manufacturing PMI rose to 53.3.
Market Reactions: Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed negatively, with notable losses in consumer discretionary and utilities. Walmart's shares dropped 4.5% after mixed quarterly results, while energy stocks performed better.
Fed's Future Actions: Analysts anticipate Powell's speech may clarify the Fed's stance on inflation and interest rates, with markets pricing a high likelihood of rate cuts in September. Wells Fargo suggests potential adjustments in investment strategies amid rising inflation and slowing growth.
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- Oil Price Fluctuations: U.S. benchmark WTI crude prices have fallen below $90 a barrel, despite being up over 50% year-to-date, indicating market optimism regarding improved U.S.-Iran relations, yet geopolitical risks continue to loom over oil prices.
- Tech Stock Rating Changes: Intuit was upgraded to buy from hold by Rothschild & Co Redburn, with its stock rising over 30% since late February, although it remains down 28.5% for the year, reflecting a recovery in market confidence in its software products.
- Cybersecurity Stock Bounce: Morgan Stanley upgraded CrowdStrike from hold to buy, with its stock up over 20% from last month's low, highlighting the positive impact of AI technology on the cybersecurity sector and indicating optimistic market expectations for future growth.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Positive Outlook: Despite memory cost pressures, the company raised its full-year earnings outlook, with reported quarterly revenues slightly below expectations but gross margins and adjusted EPS exceeding forecasts, demonstrating strong demand in the data center buildout.
- BofA Downgrades Qualcomm: Bank of America has downgraded Qualcomm from neutral to underperform with a price target of $145, citing lukewarm projected sales and EPS growth of only 2% and 1% CAGR from 2025 to 2028, significantly lagging the semiconductor sector's expected 17% growth.
- Deutsche Bank Upgrades Teladoc: Deutsche Bank upgraded Teladoc from hold to buy, highlighting an attractive risk/reward profile due to compelling valuation and a deliverable strategy for its BetterHelp business, indicating a strong potential for future growth.
- TD Cowen Upgrades Rivian: TD Cowen upgraded Rivian from hold to buy, projecting full-scale demand for its R2 model to reach between 212,000 and 335,000 units, suggesting significant upside potential against 2027 consensus estimates.
- Morgan Stanley Reiterates Microsoft Overweight: Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on Microsoft, emphasizing the readiness of its Office product suite for the upcoming Agentic AI offerings, with general availability expected on May 1, 2026, priced at $99 per user per month.
- Surge in Identity Theft Cases: The Federal Trade Commission reported 31,450 cases of employment-related identity theft in the first three quarters of 2025, marking a 61% increase from the same period in 2021, highlighting the growing severity of this issue in the U.S. and its impact on innocent taxpayers.
- Uber User Distress: Los Angeles resident Warris Bokhari received a 1099-K form indicating $2,317 in income from Uber despite never driving for the company, and after an investigation, Uber confirmed that his personal information had been stolen, leaving him responsible for taxes on this phantom income and causing significant financial stress.
- Lengthy Resolution Process: After three weeks of communication with Uber's customer service, Bokhari finally received an amended 1099-K showing $0 income, with Uber also filing the corrected tax form with the IRS; however, this lengthy and complex process reflects the difficulties identity theft victims face in resolving such issues.
- Uber's Response Measures: Uber stated it is enhancing its fraud prevention and identity verification systems to combat evolving identity theft and tax fraud issues, encouraging users to contact the company directly to investigate and resolve erroneous 1099 forms, demonstrating its commitment to user safety.

Market Impact of the Iran War: The onset of the Iran War has led to a significant increase in oil prices, negatively affecting most stocks in the market.
Performance of Crowdstrike: Despite the overall market struggles, the conflict has positively impacted some of the worst-performing stocks of 2026, including Crowdstrike.
- Feature Launch: Microsoft, in collaboration with Anthropic, introduces Copilot Cowork, which can perform tasks for enterprise users such as creating presentations and data processing, enhancing work efficiency and driving enterprise adoption.
- Significant User Growth: Paid Microsoft 365 seats have grown 160% year-over-year, with daily active users increasing tenfold, indicating strong momentum in AI sales and further solidifying its market position.
- Accelerated Customer Deployment: The number of customers deploying Copilot has reached over 35,000 seats, tripling year-over-year, reflecting sustained demand for new AI functionalities, especially with major clients like Mercedes-Benz rolling out globally.
- Optimized Product Offering: The newly launched Agent 365 monitoring platform is priced at $15 per user per month, and when combined with the $99 Microsoft 365 E7 suite, it provides a more competitive overall solution, enhancing perceived value for customers.
- Software Stock Recovery: Intuit's stock surged 17.6% last week, marking its best performance since August 2001, indicating that investors are refocusing on fundamentally strong stocks amid fears of AI disruption, leading to a broader recovery in software stocks.
- Earnings Beat Expectations: Intuit's Q2 earnings report on February 26 revealed sales and profits exceeding Wall Street's expectations, and although the Q3 revenue guidance was soft, management maintained confidence in meeting full-year financial targets, bolstering market sentiment.
- Retail Sentiment Shift: Despite the rise in Intuit's stock price, retail sentiment on Stocktwits turned ‘bearish’, yet users expressed optimism about future performance, suggesting strong retail investor interest in the stock, with message volume surging 33% in the past week.
- Analyst Rating Divergence: According to Koyfin data, 27 out of 35 analysts rated Intuit as ‘Buy’ or higher, with an average price target of $605.52 implying a 26% upside, although some firms lowered their targets, reflecting concerns about AI disruption in the market.










