AI Stocks Roar to Record Highs Amid Bold Deals and China Backlash (Aug 12–13, 2025 Roundup)
On August 12, 2025, Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 closed at record highs as AI stocks drove gains and cooling inflation boosted expectations for a Fed rate cut. Nvidia (NVDA) surged to an intraday high of about $184.50 on August 12 and closed near $183, pushing its market cap toward $4.5 trillion. The U.S.–China export deal allowed Nvidia and AMD to resume selling advanced AI chips to China with a 15% revenue share to the U.S. government in exchange for export licenses. Perplexity AI offered $34.5 billion in cash to buy Google’s Chrome browser, sending Alphabet (GOOGL) shares up roughly
