Good morning. Stocks advanced on Thursday after Nvidia's (NVDA) bullish outlook sparked a rally in tech stocks, offsetting weakness elsewhere. Nvidia stock gained over 6% in early trading, while semiconductor stocks like Intel (INTC) and SK Hynix (SKHY) also rose.
Earnings movers Salesforce (CRM), Okta (OKTA), and CrowdStrike (CRWD) also surged by double digits on the backs of strong results and outlooks, spurring on a rally in software names as well. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff called for an end to fears of software disruption, saying, "This nonsense of this SaaSpocalypse, I think it's time for it to stop."
Here's a check of the markets in the first few minutes of trading, based on a heat map powered by Yahoo Finance AlphaSpace data.
Tech (XLK) outperformed the rest of the market as the lone S&P 500 sector in the green. Strength in tech helped counterbalance declines in Utilities (XLU), Energy (XLE), and Communications Services (XLC).
Here are some notable stocks that Yahoo Finance readers are viewing this morning: Nvidia, Sandisk (SNDK), INTC, Marvell (MRVL), CrowdStrike, SK Hynix, Dollar Tree (DLTR)

#stocks #hynix #okta

The second quarter earnings season is nearly complete, and Nvidia's (NVDA) Q2 earnings beat on Wednesday served as a keystone to a remarkably strong stretch of corporate reports.
Nvidia stock jumped 5% during premarket trading on Thursday following the company's earnings release.
Software and cybersecurity stocks also rose before the bell on Thursday following a string of strong earnings reports. Salesforce (CRM), CrowdStrike (CRWD), and Okta (OKTA) stocks lifted by double digits in premarket trading.
According to FactSet data, second quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are on pace to rise 50% year over year, the highest growth rate since 2021. Artificial intelligence has been the growth engine of that broad-based earnings growth, Bank of America strategists noted.
In addition to Nvidia's results, investors weighed key updates this week from dollar stores Dollar Tree (DLTR) and Dollar General (DG), software companies Intuit (INTU) and Zoom (ZM), and other retailers like **** 's Sporting Goods (DKS) and Kohl's (KSS).

#dollar #Growth #thursday #okta

Investors are bailing on Okta (OKLO) stock ahead of the company's fiscal Q2 results, scheduled for release after the market closes on August 26. Consensus is for the enterprise software firm to record $0.44 in earnings per share (EPS), which would represent 2.33% growth year-over-year.
Despite recent declines, OKTA shares remain up nearly 60% versus the start of this year.
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#computing

Dow Jones futures will open Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Nvidia earnings take center stage with CrowdStrike leading several cybersecurity reports. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh will give his first Jackson Hole speech.
The stock market rally took damage this past week, but did a little repair work on Friday.
Mining stocks and crypto plans ran higher as gold, copper and bitcoin prices soared as the dollar tumbled. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) led copper miner breakouts Friday while crypto-tied Robinhood Markets (HOOD) raced past an aggressive entry.
Chip and AI hardware stocks suffered big losses on Tuesday, though many are still around important resistance levels. Leading software names fell to or below key support. So this coming week could be make-or-break for tech.
Nvidia (NVDA) and Marvell Technology (MRVL) headline AI hardware earnings, along with data storage leader Everpure (P). Cybersecurity names CrowdStrike (CRWD), Okta (OKTA), Rubrik (RBRK) and Sentinel One (S) are reporting as well as enterprise software giants Salesforce (CRM) and Workday (WDAY).

#along #earnings #past

The first week of the 10th season of Dana White's Contender Series kicked off on Tuesday at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas. The fight card featured five fights with 10 athletes competing for a spot on the UFC roster.
The fight card was headlined by a welterweight bout between Namo Fazil and ormer two-time Oktagon Welterweight Champion Kaik Brito. Fazil entered the but riding a seven-fight winning streak. Brito was coming off back-to-back victories.
After two entertaining and eventful round, Brito scored a stoppage early in the final round. He connected with an overhand right that rendered Fazil unconscious on the canvas. The walk-off KO earned the Brazilian a UFC offer.
Following the event, UFC CEO Dana White awarded six UFC contracts. Along with Brito, Roman Puga, Taner Trembley, Alik Lorenz, Trent Miller, and Cristian Pérez received offers to join the UFC roster.
Trembley became one of the rare fighters in the series history to get a UFC contract after losing. The featherweight kicked off the fight card against Roman Pug and was defeated via unanimous decision.

#roman

Okta (OKTA) stock has delivered one of the more striking moves in software this year. Its shares have climbed 93.8% over the past three months. That sharp re-rating has left the stock trading only 2.6% below its recent peak, even as investors continue to debate the durability of the next growth phase.
The latest spark came on Aug. 12, when Citizens JMP Securities upgraded Okta to "Market Outperform". With Okta scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter results after the close on Aug. 26, the upgrade lands at a moment when the market is especially focused on whether accelerating demand for securing AI agents can sustain the rally.
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#securities #outperform #reason

Zabit Magomedsharipov has another grappling match lined up – this time against top-ranked UFC featherweight Youssef Zalal in the main event of ACBJJ 22 in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 30.
ACBJJ also officially announced Monday that former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad will compete on the card, taking on former Oktagon ****** leholder Kerim Engizek.
Magomedsharipov vs. Zalal will be contested at 154 pounds, while Muhammad grapples Engizek in a 198-pound match.
Magomedsharipov was expected to face Raul Rosas Jr. in a grappling contest this past July, his first appearance since retiring from the UFC in 2020, but withdrew from the card with an undisclosed injury,
Zalal re-enters competition after losing to Aljamain Sterling in a UFC main event this past April, snapping a nine-fight unbeaten streak inside the octagon with five of those wins coming by way of submission.

#match

Vlasto Cepo and Gilbert Urbina meet on the UFC Fight Night 283 main card Saturday at Belgrade Arena in Serbia. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie ****** yst Dan Tom.
Last event's results: 4-1
UFC main cards, 2026: 79-42-1
Cepo (14-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his debut after winning back-to-back fights under the OKTAGON banner. Both of those fights ended in the first round. When Cepo wins, he stops his opponent, as he has a 100-percent finish rate.
Urbina (7-4 MMA, 1-3 UFC) looks to get back on track after losing his last two fights against Charles Radtke and headliner Uros Medic by opening-round stoppage. His last win was a second-round finish of Orion Cosce in May 2023.

#finish #gilbert

Okta on Thursday agreed to acquire AI identity security startup Permiso Security, betting that demand for protecting AI agents and other machine identities will grow as enterprises deploy autonomous software across their operations.
The identity management company did not disclose the terms of the transaction. But TechCrunch has learned that the acquisition is valued at just under $200 million and is structured as an almost all-cash deal, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. A spokesperson for Okta did not dispute the $200 million figure when TechCrunch asked CEO Todd McKinnon for comment about the deal, but the company would not comment on specifics of the deal terms.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of its fiscal 2027, Okta said, subject to customary closing conditions.
Okta's move to buy Permiso comes as identity management companies seek to expand beyond verifying users at login to continuously monitoring what users, applications, and AI agents do once gaining authorized access to a network environment. That shift has intensified competition to secure machine identities as enterprises embed AI deeper into everyday operations.
Permiso, which emerged from stealth in 2022, develops software that helps security teams spot suspicious activity in cloud environments after users or applications have been granted access. More recently, the startup has expanded its platform to monitor AI agents and other machine identities.

#identity

Is OKTA a good stock to buy? We came across a bullish thesis on Okta, Inc. on EAA Partners's Substack. In this article, we will summarize the bulls' thesis on OKTA. Okta, Inc.'s share was trading at $118.72 as of June 5th. OKTA's trailing and forward P/E were 86.03 and 30.96 respectively according to Yahoo Finance.
Copyright: franckito / 123RF Stock Photo
Okta, Inc. is positioned as a leading independent identity security platform that secures access for humans, machines, and increasingly AI agents across enterprise environments. The investment case is anchored in its neutrality versus hyperscalers, its 7,000-plus application integration network, and a growing opportunity in Identity Governance, Privileged Access Management, and agentic AI workloads that expand its addressable market beyond traditional workforce identity.
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Okta (OKTA) has gone from a forgotten software name to one of the market’s loudest AI security stories in a matter of weeks. That is saying something in 2026, because software stocks have been battling a simple fear. Investors keep asking whether AI will eat the software world or help the right software names grow faster. Okta is landing in the second camp. The company helps manage identity, access, and security. That makes it a natural fit for a world where people are not the only users anymore. AI agents are showing up, too. And that is exactly the story investors loved when Okta reported earnings and the stock jumped about 30% to a 52-week high, after a long stretch of doubt earlier this year.
That signals the turnaround story for the software company has finally begun.
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