Market Open: Stocks Flat, Meta Settles Child Safety Claims, Inflation Heats Up • 8/26/26
Speakers
Jim Cramer
— Host, Mad Money
Rick Santelli
— On-Air Editor, CNBC Business News
Jason Ferman
— Professor, Harvard
Nicholas Burns
— Harvard University professor and former U.S. Ambassador to China
Jessica Ettinger
— Anchor, CNBC
Summary
The market opened little changed and mixed as hot July PCE inflation kept investors cautious. Meta settled the child safety case with California and 48 states for $12.6 billion; Jim Cramer called the deal much better than feared. Oil was lower amid US-Iran tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, and Nvidia earnings were awaited after the close.
- Major averages were little changed and mixed at the open.
- July core PCE rose 3.6%, hotter than expected and sticky.
- Meta settled child safety litigation for $12.6 billion.
- Jim Cramer said the Meta deal was much better than the $1.5 trillion feared.
- US crude oil ticked lower amid Iran/Strait of Hormuz tensions.
- Nvidia quarterly results were due after the closing bell.
- Boston Scientific fell on a cyber attack; JM Smucker rose on Uncrustables strength.
Ideas
Meta settlement much better than feared.
Meta's $12.6 billion settlement of the California/state child safety litigation is reasonable and a much better deal than feared, especially versus the $1.5 trillion number floating around; the trial was not going well for Meta, so this removes a major legal overhang at manageable cost though Florida litigation remains.
Up Next
This CNBC video, published August 26, 2026, features Jim Cramer discussing META. 1 trade idea extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Jim Cramer · Tickers: META