Stock Market Today: Target's new man at the top originally appeared on TheStreet.

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Good morning. This is TheStreet's Stock Market Today for Aug. 20, 2025. The stock market is now open.

At last look, the indexes are near session lows. The Dow (-0.29%), which started the day in the green, is now down. It joins the Russell 2000 (-0.91%), S&P 500 (-0.99%), and Nasdaq (-1.80%).

Here are the latest updates from the pulse of the market:

Stocks are now near session lows, led by the Nasdaq Composite (-1.63%). Why?

Well, it kind of speaks for itself:

We've seen this one before... AI picks are sagging yet again, off to a downright horrendous start to the morning.

At last look, Palantir  (PLTR)  (-8.7%) is having another near-double digit day of losses. It's one of the worst-performing stocks on the market today again.

It's followed by AI hardware plays like Advanced Micro Devices  (AMD)  (-4.02%), Broadcom (-3.37%), and Nvidia  (NVDA)  (-3.14%).

And other than that, other big tech plays like Tesla  (TSLA)  (-3.55%), Amazon  (AMZN)  (-2.49%), Google  (GOOGL) , and Meta  (META)  are all down more than 2% this morning.

Really, the only way that things could be worse for you right now is if you're in the unfortunate position of having a portfolio mostly built exclusively out of retail popular stocks. More on that later.

When Berkshire Hathaway  (BRK.B)  CEO Warren Buffett said he'd retire at the end of 2025, handing the chief job to long-time successor Greg Abel, the conglomerate's shares started to sag. Things might finally be turning a corner. Our very own Charley Blaine has the latest on the company's latest moves.

To read the full story, click here.

Maybe it's just déjà vu, but we've seen this picture a lot recently: Dow up, everybody else down. This morning, the Dow (+0.11%) is the only index in the green. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (-0.22%), Nasdaq (-0.59%), and Russell 2000 (-0.78%) are in the red.

If you're wondering how we got here, blame tech. Yesterday, we touched on how mega-cap tech and AI names dragged down the broader market.

Many such cases. It has been the reason for the pullback in recent days. And today, it's the same deal. In fact, from the looks of it, it might well be worsening this morning if the numbers at the starting gun are any indication.

Futures started to the downside, but have been trending up all morning. All four major U.S. indexes are pointing to either a modest loss or gain at the open, with the S&P 500 down just 9 bips before the market open.

Target  (TGT)  was once the envy of retailer for its beloved stance among the millennial crowd. No longer. In fact, it's hard to remember the last time that the hypermarket saw sales growth at all. Today, in its latest earnings showing, it reported that comparable sales fell 1.9% year-over-year.

That's why it's looking within for the solution, tapping COO Michael Fiddelke to become the company's next CEO. He has worked at the company for 20 years. He will take over in Feb. 2026.

The company's once-magnificent stock has been lapped by wholesale competition such as Walmart  (WMT)  and ecommerce names like Amazon  (AMZN) , both of which offer a wider range of product at different price points.

Those giants are also known to steer clear of a controversy; the same can't be said for Target, which tried to 'both sides' its way out of a culture war sparring match. In the end, it simply frustrated everybody.

Target's exceptionally bad few years fall on management. Its lost its Tar-jhay again might ultimately lay at his feet of this long-time employee.

There are just 51 earnings set for today, per Nasdaq, but the retail sector is set to make them count. Firms like TJX Companies  (TJX) , Lowe's Companies  (LOW) , and Target  (TGT)  are set to dominate the discussion today.

Per TipRanks, these are the top ten earnings reports of the day, sorted by market capitalization:

Today will be another day of calm before the storm on Friday: Jackson Hole. There, Fed President Jerome Powell is expected to serve up the premier piece of central bank commentary this year.

In the meantime, investors will be treated to a handful of reports today, including speeches from the Fed's Waller and Bostic. We'll also get a look at the FOMC Minutes, arguably the most important nugget of insight that we'll get on the economic side today.

Here's the top reports due out today, per TradingEconomics:

Stock Market Today: Target's new man at the top first appeared on TheStreet on Aug 20, 2025

This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 20, 2025, where it first appeared.