Morning Preview: August 24, 2026

Early Look

Monday, August 24, 2026

U.S. futures are slipping to kick off the week, adding to last week losses ahead of a catalyst filled week featuring Nvidia (NVDA) earnings and the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Symposium starting on Friday. The Trump administration is also expected to announce the details of new economic sanctions against Iran. U.S. and Canada trade talks broke down over the weekend, and the U.S. imposed new tariffs on Canadian goods, which is boosting shares of U.S. metal producers like Nucor (NUE), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Cleveland Cliffs (CLF). Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended negotiations and vowed to retaliate with like-for-like tariff. Stocks closed higher on Friday, but for the week, the S&P 500 fell -1.43%, the Nasdaq declined -2.05%, and the Dow fell -0.85%, their first weekly declines since the end of July. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index declined -488 points to 65,528, the Shanghai Index fell -23 points to 3,882, the Hang Seng Index and dropped -492 points to 25,517. In Europe, the German DAX is up 23 points to 26,159, while the FTSE 100 is up 23 points to 10,840. Precious metals are higher after jumping $109.20, or +2.39%, to settle at $4,680.60 while silver prices climbed +$1.43, or +2.09%, to settle at $69.53 an ounce. Gold posted its third consecutive winning week rising over 5% and ending at three-month highs while breaching its 200-day moving average. Bond yields moved back up near their highest levels in over a decade even as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seeks to contain borrowing costs. Oil prices are down -2% after WTI crude rose $5.59 per barrel, or 6.86% to $87.06 last week its largest one week net and percentage gain since the week ending July 24, 2026 (now up 11.36% the last 2 weeks) and up closed higher for a sixth consecutive session, longest win streak since March 9, 2026.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 517.80 points, or 0.98%, to 53,277.01
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 113.29 points, or 0.43%, to 26,180.46
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 25.44 points, or 0.85% to 3,017.87

• Earnings After the Close: PICS TUYA

• US Treasury Secretary Bessent wrote in the Financial Times that “an economic D-Day is coming for Iran”. He declared that the U.S. would deliver “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary.” Bessent warned that “Nations that, in courting reprieve from Tehran… now exceed the limits of America’s tolerance.”
• China has opened applications for an 800 billion yuan ($119 billion) policy-based financing tool for local government projects to shore up slowing economic growth, although a securities firm said the later roll-out could limit its impact this year – Reuters

• nVent Electric plc (NVT) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Maverick Power for a purchase price of $1.75 billion, subject to customary adjustments. The transaction also includes the potential additional consideration of up to $550 million in cash based on achieving certain performance metrics.
• Parsons (PSN) said it has been awarded a $514M contract option by the Missile Defense Agency to continue providing engineering and technical support.

• Gilead Sciences (GILD) announced that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Trodelvy in combination with Keytruda for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who have not received prior systemic therapy
• GSK Plc (GSK) said the U.S. medicines regulator has accepted Jemperli, or dostarlimab, for priority review to treat a subtype of rectal cancer; GSK said the FDA has set a deadline of February to assess the drug. The treatment is also eligible for review through the national priority voucher program.
• MAIA Biotechnology (MAIA) files $150M mixed securities shelf.
• Oruka Therapeutics (ORKA) may offer up to $1B of securities.

• Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) enters equity distribution agreement with Raymond James & Needham & company and may issue and sell up to $600M of common stock through sales agents.
• Nvidia (NVDA) has told some of its largest customers that prices of servers containing AI chips are going to increase over 15% in many cases as memory chip costs skyrocket – Bloomberg.
• Nvidia (NVDA) is in talks to invest in Perplexity as part of an equity ‌funding round that would value the AI startup ‌at more than $30 billion, The Information reported on Sunday, citing people ​with knowledge of the discussion.
• PDD Holdings (PDD) reported an 8% rise in Q2 revs to 112.36B yuan ($16.71B), missing market estimates of 116.35 billion yuan; Q2 Adj Oper Profit 29.1B Yuan (est 28.41B Yuan) and Q2 adj Earnings Per Ads 19.33 Yuan (est 18.51 Yuan)
• SoftBank (SFTBY) plans a record 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion) retail bond sale in Japan as the conglomerate raises funds for its investment commitments to OpenAI – Bloomberg.
• XPENG (XPEV) robotics business raised over $900M, at a post-money valuation of over $6.3B, marking the largest single-round private financing ever recorded in China’s embodied AI industry, the company said. The funding will accelerate XPENG humanoid robotics mass production and physical AI model.
• XPeng (XPEV) also reported Q2 Non-GAAP EPADS of -$0.19, missing ests by $0.08, while revenue of $2.91B (+8% Y/Y) missed by $130M. Gross margin improved to 20.7%, but deliveries were essentially flat Y/Y at 103,295 vehicles. Q3 guidance calls for 115,000–121,000 deliveries.
• Investor Michael Burry said he exited Alibaba (BABA) and built a large position in JD.com (JD), citing concerns over Alibaba’s planned share issuance. Alibaba is seeking about $10.2 billion through a discounted stock offering to fund AI expansion,
• California Attorney General Rob Bonta is expected to ask Paramount (PSKY) to divest some Cable channels and commit to keeping its movie studio separate from Warner Bros. (WBD) before he signs off on the $81B merger, people familiar with the matter said – WSJ.