Mid-Morning Look: August 21, 2026

Mid-Morning Look

Friday, August 21, 2026

U.S. stocks are bouncing the tail end of the week, but major averages are still on track for weekly declines as a surge in Treasury yields and oil prices has dampened sentiment and kept inflation concerns real. The story today was the extended spike in Bitcoin and precious metals as Treasury Bessent’s bond market intervention weighs on the U.S. dollar, with the euro rising above the 1.17 level for the first time since May. Bitcoin also at its best levels since May and gold and silver prices on track for big weekly advances. @Bluekurtic noted on X, “Today, Bitcoin has a chance to do something it has done only 4 other times. Gain 5% each day for 3 consecutive days. The last time was in 2023, when $BTC gained 45% over the next 3 months.” Meanwhile, gold is heading toward a weekly gain of nearly 5% after rebounding from its second-quarter slump. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday a U.S. Treasury buyback could increase even further, the day after he announced plans to double them, raising the cap from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation in an effort to tame spiking yields. The change, which will apply to the 10-year to 20-year sector and the 20-year to 30-year sector, will be effective Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. Bitcoin has jumped close to 25% this week and was trading near $78,000 early Friday after US Treasury touted larger long-end buybacks. Materials, Financials, Healthcare early notable leaders while Tech and Utilities are edging lower.

• Food Sector: for names like TSN, President Trump said this morning on a Truth Social post that he concluded a deal to substantially lower price of ground beef. Trump on tariffs: for next 90 days, United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported with no out of quota tariff. Have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25% below current market prices. LMB was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan, concerned by the Q2 earnings report, saying the 22% revenue growth was almost entirely acquisition-led, while gross margin compressed. FLO shares slipped after Q2 top/bottom line miss and cuts FY EPS and revenue outlooks; cuts FY26 adjusted EPS view to $0.75-$0.86 from prior $0.80-$0.90 (est. $0.83) and revs to $5.07B-$5.142B from $5.163B-$5.267B.
• Ride hailing/Food delivery sector: Robotaxis are headed to Nevada. On Thursday, state regulators granted permits to TSLA, UBER and GOOGL’s Waymo to operate robotaxi services in the state. The Nevada Transportation Authority voted unanimously to allow the three tech companies in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. Zoox, owned by AMZN, already operates a paid robotaxi service on the Las Vegas Strip, with a permit to run up to 100 vehicles that lack steering wheels and pedals. Tesla received approval for up to 5,000 robotaxis, while Waymo and Uber both got permits for up to 1,000 vehicles.

• BJ +4%; reported Q2 adj EPS $1.36 that tops consensus $1.17 on revs $6.23B, vs. est. $5.94B, while Q2 comp club sales increased by 11.9% y/y; comp club sales ex: gasoline sales, increased by 3.1% y/y; outlook FY comp club sales; raises FY26 adjusted EPS view to $4.60-$4.80 from $4.40-$4.60.
• MRNA +16%; volatility continues after surging 177% on Wednesday after cancer vaccine headlines and then falling -23.5% yesterday on profit taking.
• MSTR +5%; shares of crypto levered names COIN, HOOD, CRCL, BLSH along with other plays BMNR, IBIT, etc. have rallied this week as Bitcoin has rallied as much as 25% on the week, scaling as high as $79,455 overnight but has since pared gains.
• OI +11%; after Citigroup upgraded to Buy as expects estimates have bottomed after a series of negative revisions, and the low-end of ’26 EBITDA guidance looks derisked citing conservative assumptions for 2H vol recovery, stabilizing net price in Europe, and resolved headwinds.
• ROST +2%; strong Q2 results, driven by 10% comps and better gross margins, along with improving monthly momentum and a strong August; updated second-half outlook came in ahead of consensus forecasts on the top and bottom lines.

• FLO -1%; shares declined after both Q2 top/bottom line miss and cuts FY EPS and revenue outlooks; cuts FY26 adjusted EPS view to $0.75-$0.86 from prior $0.80-$0.90 (est. $0.83) and revs to $5.07B-$5.142B from $5.163B-$5.267B.
• OSIS -7%; as Q4 revs $484.1M misses est. $529.7Mm; operating Income $73.9Mm vs est $87.98Mm; FY revenue guidance $1.875B-$1.930B vs. est. $1.94B; FY adj. EPS guidance $11.13-$11.49 vs. est. $11.44.
• WMT -1%; adding to prior day decline after comp results and sales growth missed estimates.