Top US Stocks to Watch for the Week of September 8, 2025

Market Overview

Markets have a way of flipping moods faster than a teenager on summer break. On Thursday, September 4, the S&P 500 finished at an all-time high, buoyed by optimism that rate cuts were finally in sight. By Friday afternoon, that optimism had been replaced with hand-wringing. The August jobs report landed with a thud: only 22,000 new payrolls, unemployment creeping up to 4.3%, and traders suddenly reminded that a slowing labor market isn’t just a neat way to get lower interest rates — it’s also a slowing labor market.

The index slipped about 0.3% to 6,481, though small-caps managed to look unusually perky. A day earlier, people were cheering record highs. A day later, they were betting on how aggressively the Fed might cut rates. If you’re looking for a single sentence to sum up 2025 so far, it’s this: enthusiasm lives right next door to anxiety.

The focus now shifts to inflation reports (PPI on Wednesday, CPI on Thursday), which will either confirm the case for a cut at the Fed’s September 16–17 meeting or complicate it.

Key Dates to Watch

• Monday, Sept 8 – Consumer Credit: how much households are leaning on credit cards.

• Tuesday, Sept 9 – NFIB Small Business Optimism.

• Tuesday, Sept 9 – Apple event: new iPhones, Apple Watches, and probably a reminder that Apple now thinks of itself as an AI company.

• Tuesday, Sept 9 – Earnings from Oracle, Synopsys, GameStop.

• Wednesday, Sept 10 – PPI.

• Thursday, Sept 11 – CPI. The number that will move everything else.

• Thursday, Sept 11 – Earnings from Kroger (morning) and Adobe (evening).

• Friday, Sept 12 – University of Michigan Sentiment: are consumers still in the mood to spend?

Themes in Play

• Big Tech is still the market’s headline act, but the supporting cast is starting to matter.

• Small-Caps and Value stocks quietly outperformed last week, a reminder that not all rallies have to be carried by seven companies.

• Semiconductors and design software will take their cue from Synopsys’ results.

• Gold is back in fashion, with Newmont hitting a 12-month high. That may say less about miners and more about nerves ahead of CPI.

• Storage and memory names like Western Digital are benefiting from the AI data surge.

Stocks to Watch

• Apple $AAPL ( ▲ 0.32% ) – Sept 9 event: expect the iPhone 17, a new Watch, and Apple’s latest take on putting AI in your pocket.

• Oracle $ORCL ( ▲ 2.76% ) – Earnings Sept 9 after close: a litmus test for enterprise cloud demand.

• Synopsys $SNPS ( ▼ 0.93% ) – Earnings Sept 9 after close: how chip design software fits into the AI boom.

• GameStop $GME ( ▲ 1.5% ) – Earnings Sept 9 after close: less about fundamentals, more about whether the meme trade still has oxygen.

• Kroger $KR ( ▼ 1.34% ) – Earnings Sept 11 before open: an old-fashioned read on groceries, traffic, and inflation at the checkout line.

• Adobe $ADBE ( ▼ 2.56% ) – Earnings Sept 11 after close: the story here is whether people will actually pay for generative AI inside Photoshop.

• Nvidia $NVDA ( ▲ 0.35% ) – Not reporting this week, but always lurking as the AI benchmark.

• Western Digital $WDC ( ▲ 8.77% ) – Riding momentum and storage demand.

• Newmont $NEM ( ▲ 1.95% ) – Gold sensitivity heading into Thursday’s CPI print.

Bottom Line

Last week was a neat little case study in how markets think. On Thursday: “Record highs! Rate cuts are coming!” On Friday: “Oh no, unemployment is rising!” The truth, as usual, is both. The Apple showcase and inflation numbers will probably set the tone for this week. Expect moves that look less like grand narratives and more like the market doing what it does best — overreacting in real time.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Always conduct your own research or speak to a qualified professional before investing.