Morning Preview: August 21, 2026

Early Look

Friday, August 21, 2026

After sliding again on Thursday, the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) is looking at a strong bounce this morning along with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial average as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a U.S. Treasury buyback could increase even further, the day after he announced plans to double them in an effort to tame spiking yields. Wall Street slid again on Thursday in a broad selloff that gathered momentum as the closing bell approached with the Dow and Russell 2000 leading the downside. Higher Treasury yields have pressured equities the last few weeks as the long end reversed much of Wednesday’s post-buyback rally. Retail was hit Thursday as Wal-Mart (WMT) weighed heavily on the Dow after disappointing comparable sales and weaker profit guidance as Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary were the weakest sectors. Energy outperformed as crude rallied on renewed US-Iran tensions and reports of potential escalation involving Saudi Arabia. Oil prices hold steady near multi-week highs as WTI crude has risen well over 6%this past week, as the likelihood of a near-term resolution to the U.S.-Iran stalemate faded following retaliatory threats from Trump. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) fell for a 5^th straight day on Thursday as software, large cap tech declined while semis (SOX) bounced. The last time the QQQ’s fell for 6 straight days was 7/22-7/29, which was the last down day in July before markets surged back to all-time highs by mid-August for the S&P 500, Dow and Russell 2000. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -200 points to 66,016, the Shanghai Index edged higher one point to 3,905, and the Hang Seng Index jumped 310 points to 26,009. In Europe, the German DAX is up 34 points to 26,017, while the FTSE 100 rises a few points to 10,752. Meanwhile precious metals are soaring this week, and Bitcoin bulls are back as the price of bitcoin is up about 18% over the last 2days, scaling as high as $79,455 overnight but back down around $78K now. Bitcoin prices hadn’t traded above the $70,000 level since late May prior to this latest push. All three main U.S. indexes were on track for weekly losses of about 2%, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq set to snap a three-week winning streak.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -697.72 points, or 1.31%, to 52,765.33
• The Nasdaq Composite dropped -263.93 points, or 1.00%, to 26,067.17
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -40.50 points, or 1.34% to 2,992.44

• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Services PMI, Aug-flash
• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Composite PMI, Aug-flash
• 1:00 PM ET                   Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data

• Germany’s private-sector activity remained in expansion in August, with the flash Composite PMI easing to 51.0 from 51.3 in July, a two-month low. The slowdown was driven by services, with the Services PMI falling to 48.5 from 49.8, a three-month low and back in contraction territory.
• Bond markets are steady early Friday, but long-term yields are set to close the week at levels not seen in over a decade after investors shrugged off an emergency intervention by the Treasury Department. In the U.S., 30-year Treasury yield came down to around 5.23% on Friday from a nearly 20-year closing high at 5.311% on Monday. Early Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department would step up purchases of government bonds as part of its existing buyback program. He said Treasury would double long-term debt buybacks from a maximum of $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation between September and November.

• Flowers Foods (FLO) Q2 adj. EPS $0.21 vs. est. $0.22; sales $1.19B vs. est. $1.23B; adj. EBITDA $111.3Mm vs est $118.34Mm; FY sales guidance $5.07B-$5.142B vs. est. $5.17B; FY adj. EBITDA guidance $453M.
• Ross Stores (ROST) Q2 EPS $2.66 vs. est. $1.94; sales $6.26B vs. est. $6.16B; EBIT $1.10B vs est $804.04Mm; Q3 EPS guidance $1.75-$1.83 vs. est. $1.73; Q4 EPS guidance $2.17-$2.26 vs. est. $2.13; FY EPS guidance $8.61-$8.77 vs. est. $7.80.
• Tesla (TSLA) will recall 1,956,713 China-made Model Y vehicles, according to China’s market regulator; the recall affects vehicles manufactured in China; the announcement comes from China’s State Administration for Market Regulation.

• OSI Systems (OSIS) Q4 adj. EPS $3.78 vs. est. $3.77; revenue $484.1Mm vs. est. $529.7Mm; gross profit $168.0Mm; 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; added 1.0Mm shares authorized for repurchase.

• Aveanna Healthcare (AVAH) announces offering of 15M shares of common stock for holders; priced at $11.75 per share

• Broadcom (AVGO) targets over $60B in latest AI debt deal, Bloomberg reported last night.
• Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) is in early discussions with the Korean AI chip designer Rebellions about possible collaborations, including a technical partnership, an investment or perhaps even an acquisition, according to people familiar with the matter – Bloomberg.
• Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) has approved a 2026 shareholder return plan of approximately KRW 90T to KRW 110T ($65.1B to $79.52B), following rival SK Hynix’s KRW 40T share buyback plan announced earlier this week.
• Spotify Technology (SPOT) announced that its Board of Directors has approved an increase in its share repurchase program by an additional $1.5 billion.
• A New Jersey tee has withdrawn her test-case lawsuit alleging that Meta (META), Google (GOOGL), and Snap (SNAP) deliberately designed social media platforms to foster addiction and contributed to her depression and self-harm – Reuters.