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Recall that last week, Sandisk held its Investor Day, and investors clearly liked what they heard. The company used the event to highlight the longer-term growth opportunity tied to AI and, perhaps more importantly for the stock, laid out an aggressive financial framework for FY2028 through FY2030.

On the product side, Sandisk expects AI inference to significantly increase demand for flash storage in data centers. The company sees the enterprise data-center flash market potentially reaching 1.2 zettabytes by 2030 and is developing higher-density NAND and High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) technology to capture that growth.

Sandisk is also moving toward longer-term customer agreements designed to improve revenue visibility and reduce some of the…

As London/European traders head for the exits, the major European stock indices are closing mostly lower. France's CAC 40 and Spain's Ibex led the declines, while Italy's FTSE MIB managed to finish virtually unchanged.

The closing levels show:

• German DAX: -0.27% at 26,369.65

• France CAC 40: -0.66% at 8,579.61

• UK FTSE 100: -0.28% at 10,720.31

• Spain's Ibex: -0.73% at 20,010.30

• Italy's FTSE MIB: +0.01% at 53,586.98

In the European debt market, benchmark 10-year yields moved higher across the board. Italy saw the largest move among the major markets, with its 10-year yield rising 3.3 basis points.

• Germany: 3.222%, +1.0 bp

• France: 4.067%, +1.5 bps

• UK: 5.064%, +1.8 bps

• Spain: 3.666%, +0.8 bp

• Italy: 4.028%, +3.3 bps

In the forex market, the U.S. dollar is…

The price of gold pushed to a high near $4,450 last week before reversing lower and falling back below two important technical levels: the 100-day moving average at $4,390.87 and the 100-hour moving average at $4,384.33. That decline took gold down toward $4,350, where buyers stepped back in.

In trading today, the technical picture has improved. Gold has moved back above both the 100-hour and 100-day moving averages, and the renewed buying momentum has carried the price to a high of $4,427.65. The current price is trading near $4,422.

From a technical perspective, the move back above those key moving averages is a bullish development and shifts the short-term bias more firmly in favor of the buyers.

The $4,384-$4,391 area now becomes the key…

• Prior was 34

Details:

• Current single family home sales 39 versus 37 in July
• Home sales over next 6 months 43  versus 43 in July
• Index of prospective buyers 23 versus 23 in July

US 30-year yields hit a fresh cycle high today so that's not going to help the housing market. The economy continues to tick along so consumers may eventually get used to +6% mortgages as that's not something that's going away any time soon. Overall, these numbers are in a deep recession and it's a part of the economy that's in terrible shape despite the uptick this month.

This is the week we find out whether the US consumer is bending, breaking or doing what it always does: Surprising.

On Friday, US retail sales fell 0.6% compared to a 0.1% rise expected and core numbers were also soft. That contrasts with months of outperformance and leaves a bit of a question mark on where spending really stands.

This week, we will get some corporate help in understanding how consumers are feeling. The earnings schedule:

• Tuesday, before the open: Home Depot
• Wednesday, before the open: Target, TJX, Lowe's, Estée Lauder
• Thursday, before the open: Walmart, Advance Auto Parts
• Thursday, after the close: Ross Stores
• Friday, before the open: BJ's Wholesale

Walmart management has already told us shoppers are showing signs of financial…

The NZDUSD is trading higher by around 0.50% on the day at 0.5919, with buyers maintaining the upper hand after the pair shifted its short-term technical bias to the upside late last week.

On Friday, the price moved back above both its 100-hour moving average at 0.5872 and 200-hour moving average at 0.58757. Reclaiming those key moving averages tilted the short-term bias in favor of the buyers and turned attention toward the late-July/early-August swing highs near 0.59066.

In trading today, the NZDUSD extended above that 0.59066 level, adding to the bullish momentum. The move higher, however, has run into the next important resistance zone — a swing area dating back to early April between 0.59187 and 0.59280. The high so far has reached…

The USDCHF spent most of the latter part of last week trading above its 200-hour moving average (green line on the chart below), with the price largely holding that support from Tuesday onward. There were brief dips below the moving average on Wednesday and again on Friday, but both breaks were modest and short-lived and quickly reversed. The pair ultimately closed Friday above the higher 100-hour moving average (blue line on chart), currently at 0.81218, while the 200-hour moving average sits at 0.81075.

That technical picture shifted in trading today.

The USDCHF rotated lower during the early Asian session, breaking first below the 100-hour moving average and then the 200-hour moving average. Those breaks increased the bearish momentum…

Take Profit Trader, a futures proprietary trading firm, has reduced the minimum number of trading days required to pass its evaluation from five to three. 

For traders already familiar with the funded trading world, they understand this means that taking a payout just got two days shorter. For everyone else, this new program change is a good excuse to explain what a prop firm actually is, what an evaluation measures, and why a three-day minimum matters. 

What a Prop Firm Is, and Why Evaluations Exist 

Anyone who is interested in learning to trade futuresquickly finds out that it requires a personal bank account with large amounts of available capital. Large enough to absorb margin requirements, and the losses that come with learning how to…

The last few days have clearly belonged to the sellers, who have continued to push the USDCAD lower and maintain the strongest technical hand (see prior posts and videos HERE and HERE).

On Friday, I highlighted the increasingly important support developing below the market:

The low today reached 1.3868, briefly moving below the bottom of a swing area between 1.38683 and 1.3877. However, the decline has so far stalled ahead of two increasingly important downside targets: a channel trendline near 1.3859 and the 200-day moving average at 1.3852. That 200-day moving average is particularly important.

I also added:

I would not be surprised to see some apprehension on the first test of that level. Sellers who entered at higher levels may look to…

There is a decent argument that if the Fed remains asleep at the wheel and the AI boom continues for another year, we could inch down the capital stack a tad and get high-quality bonds or notes paying +7%, maybe more.

Once you get to those levels, the pull towards bonds and away from equities is a powerful thing, especially in an aging demographic. Now at the same time, everyone is drunk on equity market gains and 7% sounds like two days of holiding Micron stock but it's a number that really compounds. In 10 years, it's nearly a double. 

Some comments from a senior Iranian official (unnamed), cited by Reuters:

• Iran has decided to shift its policy from defensive to a 'fully offensive one'
• Pressuring US or relying on mediators to reach a lasting peace is not realistic
• Has set a deadline of a few weeks for a full implementation of the MOU
• All entities will be prepared to escalate tensions in the region if diplomacy fails
• Iran will not wait for US to continue the naval blockade indefinitely

There is some inflamatory rhetroric here but there's clearly still some diplomacy in play. Trump is also threatening to bomb Oman if it gets in the way. It's hard to see any positive end to this but the market won't care until oil hits $100 or $150. WTI was last up $0.83 to…

The US Empire Manufacturing surver results shows:

• Prior month 15.60
• NY Fed Manufacturing index 2.60 vs 11.00 estimate. 

Details: 

• New orders 17.3 vs 22.2 last month
• Prices Paid 58.6 vs 52.3 last month
• Prices received 22.7 vs 27.6 last month
• Employment 9.3 vs 11.4 last month.
• Average employee workweek 6.9 versus 2.8 last month
• Shipments 11.7 vs 24.4 last month. 
• Unfilled orders 15.5 versus 5.0 last month.
• Delivery time 20.6 versus 13.0 last month.
• Inventories -5.2 versus 4.0 last month.
• Supply availability -13.4 versus -10.0 last month

Looking 6 months forward the survey showed: 

• General business conditions 32.1 versus 27.9 last month.
• New orders 37.1 versus 33.2 last month.
• Shipments 33.7 versus 30.6 last month
• prices paid 57.7 versus 53.0 last…