For people who invest after work — and want the day watched anyway.

Markets were digesting this week's Federal Reserve minutes, which showed a rare three-way policy split among officials at the July meeting, alongside a fresh batch of economic data including jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed's regional manufacturing gauge. Retail earnings from Home Depot and Walmart added to the read on consumer spending, keeping trading focused on whether the economy can support current valuations near record highs. With no single dominant shock, the session reflected a market still weighing rate-path uncertainty against a resilient earnings backdrop.

Last week (August 9–15) was a quietly strong one for long-term investors. The S&P 500 notched its third straight weekly gain and touched a fresh all-time intraday high above 7,800 on Thursday, August 13, before easing slightly into Friday's close, while the Nasdaq Composite also closed at a record on the 13th. The Dow lagged and finished the week lower, on pace for its worst week since mid-July, as gains rotated away from some of the year's biggest winners toward laggards like health care and homebuilders. The week's central story was inflation cooperating with the market's hopes: July CPI came in in line with estimates and July producer prices were unchanged, both encouraging signs that eased near-term fears of a rate hike. That good inflation news collided with weaker consumer data on Friday, August 14—retail sales fell 0.6% in July, a much bigger drop than expected, and the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment reading sank to 51.0 from 55.2. Together these reports raised questions about whether household spending is cooling. Oil prices swung on Middle East tensions, with crude sliding over 2% on the 13th before firming again by week's end amid an unresolved Strait of Hormuz standoff, and the VIX volatility gauge sank to 2026 lows near 14.4, reflecting a generally calm surface despite these cross-currents. Earnings season itself continued to run hot: with the large majority of S&P 500 companies having reported, results were tracking toward roughly 50% year-over-year profit growth for the quarter, one of the strongest showings in years. For our watchlist names, it was a mostly quiet week on the news front, with broader macro data—not company-specific catalysts—driving the tape.