Market Review: August 27, 2026

Closing Recap

Thursday, August 27, 2026

U.S. stock markets finished higher as earnings from tech giants Nvidia (NVDA) in semiconductors, and Salesforce (CRM), Okta (OKTA) and CrowdStrike (CRWD) in software lifted the tech trade as investors awaited the Fed’s Jackson Hole gathering. While the Nasdaq rose over 1% and the S&P 500 (SPX) +0.5%, it was primarily tech (XLK +3.17%) that did all the work as nine of the eleven S&P sectors finished lower amid the rotation into semis/software today, with Healthcare (XLV), Consumer Discretionary (XLY), and Consumer Staples (XLP) all down over 1%. Nvidia (NVDA) stock leaped 8% higher after the company reported an earnings beat and signaled strong AI demand throughout next year. Retailers DLTR, BBW, and BURL all declined on earnings results. With the AI bellwether’s report in the rearview mirror, the focus now turns to the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Symposium, where central bank officials will debate the path of interest rate policy. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh is expected to deliver a speech on Friday, The dollar and Treasury yields were little changed today, while oil pushed higher and Bitcoin stayed above $80K.

Ahead of Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh speech at the Fed Jackson Hole symposium tomorrow morning, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said Thursday worries about persistently high inflation continue to argue in favor of the central bank raising interest rates. “We’ve got a lot of time before our next meeting, so I don’t want to prejudge anything,” Hammack said in a CNBC interview. “But I believe now is the time to act” given inflation’s continued trend above the 2% target, she said. Hammack dissented in favor of an interest rate increase at the Fed’s late July policy meeting. Meanwhile, Boston Fed President Susan Collins said in an interview on the sidelines of the Kansas City Fed’s annual symposium in Wyoming that “I am open to supporting an increase if I see conditions as not providing that evidence of continued disinflation that I‘m looking for.”

• August Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index up to +10 vs. +10 est. & +9 prior … new orders strong at +16 (+10 prior), shipments eased a bit to +17 (+20 prior); prices paid up to +55 (+52 prior).

• @GlobalMktObserv noted on X, “The largest US physically gold-backed ETF, $GLD, attracted +$3.4 billion in inflows last week, the 4th-largest weekly intake on record. This put the fund in the top 10 of the ETF flow rankings last week. So far this month, $GLD has attracted +$5.8 billion in inflows, putting it on track for its largest monthly inflow on record. That would exceed the combined January and February inflows of +$2.6 billion and +$2.5 billion during the gold market frenzy.”
• U.S. WTI crude oil futures settle at $83.53/bbl, up $1.30, or 1.58% and brent crude gained $1.86 or 2.12% to settle at $89.70 per barrel as all was quiet the last few days on the U.S./Iran headlines with no new changes of late. A WSJ report said U.S. President Trump is not interested in returning to terms of a memorandum of understanding reached with Iran in June.

• Off Price Retail: last of the group reported today (TJX, ROST reported recently) as BURL Q2 adj EPS $2.37 tops consensus $2.18 on sales of $3B as raises full-year adj EPS guidance to $11.77-$11.97 and expects full-year comp sales growth of 3%-4%, but shares fell as guided Q3 results below views with EPS $1.60-$1.70, vs. consensus $2.03 and Q3 rev growth 9%-11% from $2.71B last year (est. $2.99B).
• Specialty retailers: BBW shares were weak after results as Q2 revs fell -7% y/y and EPS also down on a y/y basis and lowers FY26 revenue view to $500M-$525M from $530M-$550M (est. $538.78M) and lowered its FY26 pre-tax income view to $60M-$68M from $72M-$78M; said increased promotional activity contributed to lower gross margin in Q2.
• Electronic Retailers: BBY shares fell despite beat and raise as reported Q2 adj EPS $1.47 vs. est. $1.33 on revs $9.78B vs. est. $9.59B and guides FY adj EPS in the range of $6.70-$6.90, compared with prior guidance of $6.30-$6.60 on better rev view of $42.3B-$42.8B; said in Q2, incurred $6M reduction to restructuring charges versus $114M of restructuring charges last year.

• Restaurant sector: WEN shares tumbled after Reuters reported Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management has no plans to make a take-private bid for Wendy’s at this time. The move comes after the investment firm, a longtime Wendy’s shareholder with around 16% of the fast food chain, was earlier this month reported by Reuters and others to be working on preparing a bid with the help of a consortium of investors. https://tinyurl.com/yb68p6b7 ; casual dining and restaurant stocks were down broadly on the day with DRI, EAT, WING, BJRI, RRGB all notably lower.

• Power sector: BWXT was upgraded to Equal Weight at Wells Fargo ahead of its investor day Sept 29 where WELLS expects a multi-year forecast for MSD- HSD revenue & HSD+ EBITDA growth, roughly in line with consensus expectations. Piper noted it has been a tumultuous two weeks for the Power Services group as SEI has fallen 21% since 8/17/26 with LBRT -17%, PUMP -17%, KGS -9%, and AESI -6%, as a combination of Ai data center moratoriums and publicity around Equipment/permits have given investor pause. Ai data center moratoriums in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Michigan with additional States pushing back on development, have clearly indicated data Centers will be a political hot button issue for November midterms. Furthermore, publicity questioning power Generation Equipment performance and emission related permits has given investors pause on the Ai related trade. TE receives approval to develop data center at Giga Arctic Campus in Norway; expects 50 mw data center operational in 2027 with expansion potential; holds 50-year lease with extension options on giga arctic site; engaged in conversations with multiple parties to explore options. EOSE said it will consolidate Battery manufacturing operations at its Thorn Hill facility in Pennsylvania; says the move is expected to reduce conversion costs by about 10% to 15%, with benefits beginning in 2027.
• MLPs and Pipeline sector: ENB said it had agreed to form a joint venture with KKR and APO to invest about C$2.7 billion ($1.95 billion) in expansions of its Westcoast natural gas pipeline system in British Columbia. Demand for natural gas infrastructure in Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest is also growing, with Enbridge’s Westcoast system providing a route to international LNG markets.

• REIT sector: LTC was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank as see poised for earnings growth acceleration & multiple expansion beyond ’26 after recently took the management team on a non-deal roadshow (NDR) in Chicago. EXR upgraded from Market Perform to Outperform at BMO Capital calling it their top pick W/ $170 PT and SMA downgraded to Market Perform. MAC was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper as its revised 2027 estimate as likes that management is starting down the path to unencumbering its wholly owned assets.
• Crypto sector: MSTR shares surged as Bitcoin prices topped $80,000 again, as MSTR approaching its 200dma resistance of $141.60 (has not been above 200dma since October 2025); COIN also advanced and also approaching its 200dma resistance which stands at $196 (hasn’t been above 200dma since November 2025); Bitcoin miners along with other names in the space like BMNR, IBIT, HOOD outperformed.
• FinTech/Payments: XYZ shares rose after positive comments from Cleveland Research saying seller momentum remains strong with some further acceleration driven by continued domestic share gains. Meanwhile, the firm was cautious on FOUR saying their work remains cautious on restaurant share loss and continued distribution pressure/churn.
• Insurance sector: PRI was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Truist and lower PT to $320 from $370 citing concern that Primerica’s recent underperformance in new Term Life sales will restrain topline expansion, which may no longer be offset by ISP upside, depending on the S&P 500.

• CELU shares jump to 4-month highs after saying earlier it will manufacture Dezawa MuseCells, an experimental cell therapy platform, and related products in the U.S. under a collaboration with MuseCell Innovations
• MRNA announces proposed private placement of $2.0B of convertible Senior notes, which pressured shares this morning.
• NVO downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank and cut tgt saying ziltivekimab is now effectively out of the picture while the Medicare prescription upside seems limited and the firm is concerned over Novo returning to growth in 2027 and patent cliffs longer term.

• Life Sciences & Tools sector: WAT was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper and raise PT to $480 from $400 saying they believe the $7–9B global mass spectrometry market is entering a durable instrument replacement Cycle. Piper believes WAT, TMO, A should all benefit from this proteomics-led growth, but believes WAT is best positioned in mass spectrometry through its strength in regulated Pharma QA/QC, targeted quantitation and Integrated UPLC–MS software.
• Medical Equipment: Agilent (A) delivered strong results for Q3 and raised guidance; core organic growth of 7.3% was above guidance of 4.4%-5.9% and consensus of 5.4%; showed an acceleration in Pharma, which grew 12% (6% in Q2, 7% in Q1). Some meaningful tailwind to Pharma performance was China strength and Specialty CDMO growing 30%.

• Materials sector: in lithium space, SQM was upgraded to Buy at Citigroup based on the Lithium market likely to remain in deficit in 2026 and return to balance in 2027 and positive near-term outlook as restocking and further export front-loading support a recovery in prices. Precious metal miners AG, FSM, HL, CDE outperformed.
• Industrials and Machinery: TITN shares fell after results as Q2 revenue fell y/y to $496.4M but beat analyst expectations of $484M while posted a wider net loss as revenue declined and operating expenses rose; gross margin improved 150 bps y/y as inventory actions lifted equipment margins.

• The Trump administration is considering broad new semiconductor tariffs that could extend to chip-containing products such as laptops and data-center servers, potentially raising AI infrastructure costs while linking tariff relief to U.S. manufacturing investment – Politico reported overnight.
• Memory sector benefits early from NVDA results while news also out that Kioxia (KXIAY) and SNDK to invest over $31B in Japan, continuing leadership in memory industry. However, SNDK, MU, WDC all gave up early gains and reversed lower by mid-afternoon.
• AI sector: Claude maker Anthropic is weighing allowing its existing shareholders sell some stock in its blockbuster IPO while also mulling longer-than-usual lockup periods for sales after it goes public, The Information reported.
• Hardware & Components sector: HPQ reported FQ3 revs/EPS of $15.7B/$0.83, above Street at $14.4B/$0.66, and raised F26 EPS guide to $3.19-$3.29; overall results mixed, with an EPS beat but concerning margin trends in PCs and Print as Bank America noted the outlook as challenged by rising memory costs, demand elasticity from higher pricing and FQ4 PS OM expected below FQ3.
• Storage sector: NTNX delivered Q4 revenue of $757M, 2% above the high end of guidance and up 16% YoY as ARR reached $2.549B, up 16%, with growth accelerating sequentially, while NRR held at 106%. Mgmt said saw no unusual pull-ins or future-start-date catch-up; FY26 TCV bookings grew in the high teens versus 12% revenue growth.

• SaaS software sector: CRM shares rallied behind results and Anthropic expanded their partnership with Claudeforce, a new Claude integration that lets sales teams access Salesforce data and take actions directly inside Claude. Q2 results were highlighted by upside to cRPO results and guidance and management’s reiteration that the business is set to reaccelerate in 2H:FY27. Agentforce and related Ai metrics continue showing robust growth; raised the FY guide by $100M organically. (the group was broadly higher in sympathy NOW, TEAM, MNDY, HUBS, MDB, etc.)
• Quantum sector: INFQ shares active after NASA awards Co $20M follow-on contract to build a space-based Quantum Gravity sensor, bringing its investment in the program to $40M.