The stock market closed mixed on Monday, with the S&P 500 ending little changed at 7,413, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.2% to 24,932 as technology and semiconductor stocks came under broad selling pressure.
Investor sentiment remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest rate decision and a wave of quarterly earnings reports from major technology companies.
Chart of the Day
Here is the one-year chart of Adobe (ADBE) as of July 8, 2026, when the stock was at $222.
Adobe is sacrificing short-term growth to attract millions of new AI users, believing a larger customer base will create more value over the long term. Management stated the strategy could reduce organic Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) by roughly $500 million as more users are directed into free AI experiences instead of paid subscriptions.
Instead of sending users searching for tools like “summarize PDF” directly to a checkout page, Adobe now lets them use Acrobat AI Assistant and Firefly for free first, helping build habits before introducing paid features.
Early results have been encouraging, with Adobe.com traffic increasing 40%, Creative freemium monthly active users growing 70%, and Firefly ARR rising 50% quarter-over-quarter. Management believes this investment will reshape Adobe’s business for decades by bringing hundreds of millions of new users into its AI ecosystem before converting them into paying customers.
Meanwhile, the stock is dead in the water as investors do not believe the hype.
ADBE is part of the Conservative Growth Portfolio.
