News Bulletin
Friday, August 21, 2026
Evening Edition
Economic Numbers:
|
Time |
Event |
Actual |
Forecast |
Previous |
|
Friday, August 21, 2026 |
||||
|
9:45 |
S&P Global Manufacturing PMI (Aug) |
53.20 |
54.00 |
53.90 |
|
9:45 |
S&P Global Services PMI (Aug) |
56.80 |
53.90 |
54.60 |
|
9:45 |
S&P Global Composite PMI (Aug) |
56.00 |
54.00 |
54.50 |
|
13:20 |
U.S. Baker Hughes Oil Rig Count |
452.00 |
456.00 |
455.00 |
|
13:20 |
U.S. Baker Hughes Total Rig Count |
588.00 |
|
593.00 |
Indices
|
|
CLOSE |
50 DMA |
200 DMA |
|
DJIA |
53,277.01 |
52,590.17 |
49,554.73 |
|
NASDAQ |
26,180.45 |
25,951.00 |
24,241.96 |
|
S&P 500 |
7,674.37 |
7,541.19 |
7,094.81 |
Earnings Calendar:
(EPS: Earning Per Share / Rev: Revenue / Mkt Cap: market Capital/ BMO: Before Market Opening /AMC:
After Market Close)
|
COMPANY |
EPS Act |
EPS
Fore |
Rev
Act |
Rev
Fore |
Mkt Cap |
Time |
|
Ubiquiti NetworksUBNT:US |
4.73 |
4.48 |
937.3M |
868.35M |
$56.03B |
AM |
|
BJs Wholesale Club HoldingsBJ:US |
1.36 |
1.17 |
6.09B |
5.92B |
$11.55B |
AM |
|
AimcoAIV:US |
- |
- |
- |
- |
$6.45B |
PM |
|
Lancaster ColonyLANC:US |
- |
- |
- |
- |
$3.59B |
|
|
HUBHUBG:US |
- |
0.29 |
- |
941.12M |
$2.51B |
|
|
BuckleBKE:US |
0.88 |
0.89 |
319.8M |
315.66M |
$2.25B |
AM |
Market News:
Wall Street closed higher on Friday,
even as a bond market sell-off picked up steam again. Sentiment was buoyed by a
surge in the materials sector, a rally in cryptocurrency-related
stocks, and positive data on U.S. business activity.
But U.S. stocks notched a weekly loss,
pressured by the jump in Treasury yields and surging oil prices.
The benchmark S&P 500 added 0.4% to
end at 7,674.39 points, the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite advanced 0.4% to settle
at 26,180.46 points, and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1%
to conclude at 53,276.81 points.
For the week, the S&P slid 1.4%, the
Nasdaq slumped 2.1%, and the
Dow fell 0.9%.
The bond market’s roller coaster ride
Much of the attention this week was on
the fixed-income space.
Before Wednesday, longer-term U.S.
Treasury bonds in particular had been caught up in a sell-off roughly since the
Federal Reserve’s July interest rate decision, driven by inflation jitters due
to rising oil prices and concerns over the massive amount of debt being issued
by mega-cap companies to fund their artificial intelligence infrastructure
spending. The 30-year yield on Tuesday hit a 19-year high of 5.337%, while the
benchmark 10-year yield took out a fresh 52-week high of 4.748%.
Shorter maturities had fared much
better, helped by recent economic data that reduced expectations of imminent
Fed rate hikes.
Then, on Wednesday, the U.S. Department
of the Treasury said it would increase the size of repurchases of long-dated
government debt to at least $4 billion from $2 billion. The surprise
intervention led to a rally in long bonds which sent yields sliding. However,
much of that advance was wiped out on Thursday and on Friday, suggesting that
traders saw the move as only a short-term solution. Fiscal worries sparked by
news that U.S. debt had crossed $40 trillion also clouded the mood.
The 30-year yield was last up 3.6 basis
points to 5.273%, while the 10-year yield was up 3.5 basis points to 4.733%.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday tried to provide more relief, telling
CNBC that the size of the proposed buybacks could be more than the $4 billion
announced and touting a "big toolkit" to bring down yields.
Materials and crypto lift markets
Turning away from the bond market, Wall
Street on Friday was boosted by a 2.2% jump in the S&P 500 materials
sector. The rise has been underpinned by copper prices breaking records this
month on a combination of supply shortages, falling refined output from China,
uncertainty around U.S. tariffs targeting copper imports, and massive demand
for the metal due to the artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout.
Copper futures on the London Metal
Exchange settled at $14,036.50 a ton, while COMEX copper futures were up 1.8%
to $6.5823 a pound.
Also boosting markets on Friday were cryptocurrency-related stocks, with Robinhood
Markets and Coinbase closing 13.7% and 8.2% higher,
respectively, and ending among the top three percentage gainers on the
benchmark S&P 500 index. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have caught a significant bid this week on
the U.S. Treasury’s intervention move and President Donald Trump calling on
policymakers to pass clear regulation for the industry.
Elsewhere, Friday’s economic calendar
was highlighted by flash purchasing managers’ index (PMI) readings from S&P
Global.
As per the data, U.S. business activity
growth rose to 56.0 in August, better than the estimate of 54.0 and ticking up
from July’s 54.5 figure. It marked the fastest increase since April 2022. The
improvement was driven by a strong showing in services sector business
activity, which reached its fastest since December 2024. Manufacturing growth,
however, hit a five-moth low.
Oil prices head for weekly gains of more
than 5%
Turning to the Middle East, the U.S. and
Iran remained at an impasse over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump on Thursday vowed
an escalation in economic warfare against Iran and called on U.S. allies to
help deliver what he said would be an "economic D-Day" for Tehran.
"This is going to be the greatest
coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world...It is a one-two
punch — we have a blockade and we are going to have the toughest sanctions in
history," Treasury Secretary Bessent told CNBC
on Thursday.
Iran appeared to dismiss the threat
while keeping up sharp rhetoric against the U.S. State media on Friday said
Tehran’s response to any new U.S. threats would be "devastating,"
citing comments made by Major General Ali Abdollahi,
the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces.
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