Morning Preview: August 19, 2026

Early Look

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

U.S. futures are down slightly overnight, looking to snap the 3 day losing streak for major averages as a recent resurgence in oil prices and bond yields has once again raised the inflation concerns on Wall Street. The Nasdaq ended down 1.33% on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 fells -0.69% and Smallcap Russell underperformed down over -1.3%. The 30-year Treasury yield earlier touched 5.3371%, highest level since 2007 before paring back. Brent settles at $91.02 a barrel, highest close since July 24 and is higher again this morning. The move came as fears of an escalating Middle East conflict stoked inflation worries and weighed on stocks. Oil prices settled at their highest in more than three weeks after Iran said it would adopt a more offensive stance and the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed, while the United States ruled out extending a ceasefire. Retail earnings in focus this morning as shares of Lowe’s (LOW) slips after a mixed quarter and narrowed guidance while Target (TGT) Q2 results come in above consensus estimates.

In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index tumbled -2,134 points or 3.16% to 65,326, the Shanghai Index tumbled -95 points to 3,894, and the Hang Seng Index edged higher 23 points to 25,495. The Korean Kospi fell -69 points or 6.41% to 1,012. In Europe, the German DAX is down -14 points to 26,114, while the FTSE 100 is down -22 points to 10,705. Indian shares fell, with high crude oil prices and rising global bond yields weighing on appetite for risk assets globally as the Nifty 50 index has fallen for seven straight sessions, its longest losing streak in 11 months, dropping 2.1% over the period. The BSE Sensex dropped in six out of seven sessions, dipping 2.1%. On the day, the Nifty 50 slid 0.32% to 24,078.30 and the Sensex lost 0.42% to 76,909.68.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -116.38 points, or 0.22%, to 53,343.40
• The Nasdaq Composite dumped -355.20 points, or 1.33%, to 26,289.71
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -39.65 points, or 1.30% to 3,017.89

• 10:30 AM ET                Weekly EIA Inventory Data
• 1:00 PM ET US Treasury to sell $13B in 20-year bonds

• Earnings After the Close: ARAY BILL ALVO BULL COTY NDSN TLX UFI WOLF

• Needham 7th Annual Virtual Semiconductor & Semicap 1×1 Conference, 8/19-8/20
• Piper California Medtech & Diagnostics Bus Tour, 8/18-8/20
• Seaport Global 15th Annual Summer Investor Virtual Conference, 8/18-8/19

• Estee Lauder (EL) Q4 adj EPS $0.39 vs. est. $0.32; Q4 revs $3.63B vs. est. $3.55B; sees FY27 adjusted EPS $3.06-$3.31, vs. consensus $3.18 while sees FY27 organic net sales growth of 3%-5% and raises FY27 adjusted operating margin view to 12.7%-13.5%; completed restructuring program, reducing 10,000 positions for operational efficiency
• La-Z-Boy (LZB) Q1 adj. EPS $0.43 vs. est. $0.49; sales $475.7Mm vs. est. $501.4Mm; adj. operating Income $18.7Mm vs est $22.58Mm; adj. operating margin 3.9%; positive written same-store sales; Q2 sales guidance $500Mm-$520Mm vs. est. $536.8Mm; Q2 adj. operating margin guidance 4.0%-5.5%.
• Lowe’s (LOW) Q2 adj EPS $4.40 tops consensus $4.22 on revs $25.96B vs. est. $26.11B; Q2 comparable sales for the quarter increased 0.2%, driven by strong performance in Pro and home services sales; said Q2 online sales rose +15.7% y/y; narrows FY26 EPS view to $12.25 from $12.25-$12.75 (est. $12.45); narrows FY26 revenue view to $92B from $92B-$94B and narrows FY26 comps to flat from flat to up 2%
• Target Corp. (TGT) Q2 adj EPS $4.11 vs. est. $2.29; Q2 sales rose 5.3% y/y to $26.54B vs. est. $26.14B; Q2 comp sales rose +3.8% vs. est. +2.43%; Q2 operating income jumped 94.4% y/y to $2.56B helped by $994M in pretax refunds; Q2 Operating margin widened 4.4% to 9.6%; gross margin rate expanded 4.7 percentage points to 33.7%; raises FY EPS view to $9.90-$10.90 from prior $7.5-$8.50 and sees net sales growth around 5% vs. prior range of 4%.
• Toll Brothers (TOL) Q3 adj EPS $2.97 vs. est. $2.93; Q3 revs fell -8% y/y to $2.65B vs. est. $2.62B; Q3 net income fell -24.2% y/y to $280.1M; Q3 deliveries declined 10% to 2,662 homes; Q3 Home sales gross margin narrowed 1.7 percentage points to 23.9%; Q3 backlog edged down 2.2% to $6.24B; guidance reaffirmed for about $10.5B of home sales revenues, with adjusted home sales gross margin of 26.1%.

• Lyntris (LYNX) 17M share IPO priced at $17.50 as the defense contractor deal size was reduced to 17M shares of common stock from 24M shares of common stock and priced below the $19.00-$22.00 range.
• Mercury Systems (MRCY) Q4 adj. EPS $0.37 vs. est. $0.38; revenue $289.8Mm vs. est. $266.1Mm; adj. EBITDA $49.0Mm vs. est. $45.8Mm, backlog over $1.9B with $1.0B representing orders expected to be recognized as revenue within next 12 month.
• SQM Inc. (SQM) posted a Q2 net profit of $660M for the three months ended June, compared with estimates of $553.90M; Sales of lithium carbonate equivalent jumped 59% in the quarter; posted revenue of $2.47B during the quarter, higher than analyst estimates of $2.29B.

• Pershing Square (PS) was downgraded to Neutral/High Risk from Buy/High Risk at Citigroup to reflect price performance since May 2026, which has reduced total return potential over the next 12 months and balanced risk-reward.
• The S&P 500 Financials sector (BKX) had risen for 13 consecutive weeks, the longest such streak on record, according to BTIG strategist Jonathan Krinsky, but he warns that the group could be vulnerable to a pullback as September approached.

• Merck (MRK) and Moderna (MRNA) announce phase 3 interpath-001 trial of intismeran autogene plus Keytruda® met endpoints of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) in patients with completely resected Stage IIB-iv melanoma.

• IBM Corp. (IBM) successfully connected and cooled two modular cryogenic systems into a single environment below 15 millikelvin, designed to eventually link hundreds of quantum chips.
• IonQ (IONQ) announced a collaboration with Canadian Microelectronics Corporation, operating as CMC Microsystems. This collaboration integrates IonQ’s commercial trapped-ion quantum computing systems into Canada’s FABrIC Quantum Computing Sandbox.
• Keysight Technologies (KEYS) Q3 adj EPS $3.07 vs. est. $2.48; Q3 revs rose 36% y/y to $1.85B vs. est. $1.75B; guides Q4 EPS $3.34-$3.40 vs. est. $2.68 and revs $1.93B-$1.95B vs. est. $1.82B; Q3 operating margin rose 7.6 percentage points to 24.9% while orders increased 56% y/y to $2.09B.
• Nvidia (NVDA) had some small batches of its H200 chips allowed to enter mainland China, as Beijing tries to aid its leading Ai companies in the race to catch up with US rivals, the Financial Times reported. ByteDance and Tencent have each received about 10,000 H200 processors in recent weeks, while a few other Chinese tech groups could soon obtain approval for shipments of similar size
• Samsung (SSNLF) has raised the prices for some advanced contract chipmaking services by up to 15% due to strong demand, especially from Chinese customers – Reuters
• Samsung (SSNLF) plans to increase the number of floors at its new fab under construction in Pyeongtaek from the originally planned two to three, per Korean media. More specifically, the fabs being redesigned as three-story facilities are Pyeongtaek P5 Plants 1 and 2, which together will constitute the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturing facility at a single site.
• SK Hynix (SKHY) shares rise after announcing it would buy back and cancel 40 trillion won ($28.61 billion) ‌worth of treasury shares and allocate more than 50% ‌of free cash flow generated between 2025 and 2027 to boost shareholder returns.
• WhiteFiber (WYFI) announces $250M convertible senior notes offering