Good afternoon.

Today is Thursday, August 28th.

I'm your host, Rina Sherble, filling in for Kim Khan.

Our top story so far, does a bear lurk in the woods? Lumber futures are on the edge of bear territory.

The initial tariff-driven upswing has fizzled out, and cracks in the housing market are beginning to show.

Lumber has retreated from an early August high of about 695 per thousand board feet to about 560. That's a decline of nearly 19.5%

just shy of the 20% drop that signals a technical bear market. Lumber futures saw a surge

driven by tariffs and optimism over lower interest rates, which pushed prices to their highest

levels in more than three years.

But enthusiasm soon faded as recent housing data disappointed in builders scaled back due to higher

input costs, weaker demand and looming affordability challenges. Bank of America says housing

affordability remains stretched even with potential rate cuts, requiring better wage growth or increased supply

for meaningful improvement. Mill closures reduced North American production capacity and tariff

concerns have resulted in increased volatility in the lumber market of late. Among active stocks,

Snowflake is surging post-earnings, with accelerating sales and momentum from its AI strategy,

prompting analysts to increase price targets and reiterate strong ratings.

Goldman Sachs analyst said, we highlight that Snowflake has an opportunity to be a Gen.

A.I. Platform enabling customers to develop agentic applications using Cortex.

AISQL. Among the top SMP 500 gainers is HP, after its quarterly results and guidance

topped expectations despite tariff concerns. Evercore analysts said, although print market

fundamentals remain somewhat soft, continued PC strength provides an

offset, which should enable HPQ's top line to remain positive over the next few quarters.

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