Mid-Morning Look: August 17, 2026

Mid-Morning Look

Monday, August 17, 2026

A quiet start to the trading week as technology (XLK, QQQ) the early market leaders with chip/memory stocks higher, but most S&P sectors are lower to start led by consumer staples, REITs and Consumer Discretionary. Energy stocks also among leaders as oil prices open the week higher, boosting Treasury yields as the US 30-year Treasury yields reach 5.29%, highest since 2007. Stocks overall have opened mixed at the start of another quiet summer week. The S&P 500 is looking for direction after hitting an all-time high last week, as investors bet the Fed won’t raise interest rates in September. One note of caution sounded Friday, when data showed sales growth at U.S. retailers unexpectedly fell last month. Retailers including Target, Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s will report earnings later this week, and July Fed minutes are Wednesday.

The Nasdaq Composite has picked up where its rally left off. The index couldn’t get above Thursday’s intraday high of 26,875.52 and drifted lower, ending the session at 26,729.16 and this morning topped at 26,798.40 again failing to take out the Thursday intraday high  Support levels continue to hold, and the Composite remains within striking distance of its record highs. As of Friday’s close, the index was just 1.35% below its June 2nd record closing high of 27,093.901 and 1.7% beneath its June 1 record intraday peak of 27,190.207.

• U.S. August NAHB Housing market index 35 (consensus 33) versus 34 in July (previous 34); NAHB August index of current single-family home sales 39 versus 37 in July (previous 37), index of home sales over next six months 43 versus 43 in July (previous 43).

• Data Center/AI sector: HIVE signed a five-year, $350M GPU Cloud agreement with an unnamed investment-grade enterprise customer, adding roughly $70M in annualized revenue. The deal will deploy 2,016 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra GPUs in British Columbia, the Bitcoin miner’s second large GPU cluster in two months. NVDA will invest $1.5B in SoftBank-backed SB Energy and secure up to 8 gigawatts of AI computing capacity at an Ohio campus being built by the data center developer for OpenAI. META and BLK $14B Sopaipilla data center in Texas faces potentially large losses from catastrophic events, with only a fraction of the project fully covered by insurance, creating credit risks for lenders, FT reports.
• Aerospace sector: RKLB said this weekend eight satellite platforms it built for MDA Space (MDA) have entered orbit, marking the first deployment under a $143 million contract covering 17 spacecraft. The satellites launched Aug. 15 at 9:12 p.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. YSS was downgraded from Overweight to Neutral at JP Morgan and cut tgt to $17 from $38 after the space company lowered its 2026 sales guide by 32% suggesting the stock is washed out for now. LUNR Receives authorization for multi-satellite program valued at over $600M

• ARGX +10%; after announced positive top-line results from the Phase 3 ALKIVIA study evaluating Vyvgart in myositis. In the trial, the drug demonstrated a statistically significant benefit in the combined IMNM and DM population as well a statistically significant benefit in the key IMNM subtype.
• HIVE +9%; signed a five-year, $350M GPU Cloud agreement with an unnamed investment-grade enterprise customer, adding roughly $70M in annualized revenue. The deal will deploy 2,016 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra GPUs in British Columbia, the Bitcoin miner’s second large GPU cluster in two months.
• LUNR +6%; after the company said it was selected for a multi-satellite communications infrastructure program with an anticipated value of more than $600 million.
• OAMI +21%; shares rise after signing a global collaboration and license agreement with LLY for a new ion channel drug discovery program; says it will receive an upfront payment and is eligible for up to $370 mln in research, development and commercial milestone payments

• DT -3%; after offering privately $1.25B exchangeable notes due Sept 1, 2031; says intends to use net proceeds for general corporate purposes.
• ENVX -17%; after announces CEO transition and search as Raj Talluri resigns as CEO and director effective August 13, 2026, while appoints Ryan Benton as interim CEO while conducting CEO search; the company reaffirms Q3 2026 financial guidance and breakthrough technical progress on Cycle Life.
• EYPT -71%; said top line data from its long-acting injection Duravyu failed to maintain vision compared to a standard treatment in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common cause of age-related blindness.
• LHX -3%; named Sam Mehta as chief executive officer, effective immediately, succeeding Christopher Kubasik, who has stepped down from the top role.