Morning Preview: August 31, 2026

Early Look

Monday, August 31, 2026

U.S. stock futures are trading lower to kick off the trading week as tensions resumed in the Middle East after U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island near the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices higher. Renewed conflict adds geopolitical risk for energy markets, particularly given Kharg Island’s role in Iran’s oil infrastructure, as Brent tops $91 per barrel, but Treasury yields unchanged with the 10-year holding high at 4.92%. A quiet weekend overall for stock news heading into the final trading week of the summer and before the Labor Day holiday weekend coming up. The big stock story this weekend was in California where shares of major California electric utilities fall (PCG, EIX, SRE) as California legislature amends Senate Bill 492, which addresses wildfire risk reduction and recovery, preserving insurers’ ability to recover wildfire-related claim. In other news, President Trump said the U.S. will use Venezuelan crude to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has fallen to its lowest level in more than four decades. Trump said the process would begin shortly and could affect U.S. oil inventories and energy-market expectations as investors monitor changes in Venezuela policy.

The S&P 500 fell on Friday, but still notched a winning week, after Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh conveyed some worry over current inflation trends. The broad market index lost 0.3% on Friday, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.5%, weighed down by losses in semiconductor stocks and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was marginally lower. For the week, the S&P 500 rose 0.47%, QQQ finishes +0.42%and the Dow +0.53%,while IWM the underperformer down 1.4% on the week. The market’s dominant catalyst was FOMC Chair Kevin Warsh as his speech Friday pushed September hike pricing sharply higher and drove a broad repricing across rates, FX and risk assets.

In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -93 points to 66,311, the Shanghai Index rose 34 points to 3,986, and the Hang Seng Index dipped -17 points to 25,566. In Europe, the German DAX is down -231 points to 26,338, while the FTSE 100 is closed for Holiday. The dollar/yen briefly broke above 160, putting further yen weakness firmly on the radar for Japanese authorities. Japan already spent a record $96.4B defending the yen over the past month, yet the currency has given back more than half of its gains from that intervention.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped -9.45 points, or 0.02%, to 53,559.99
• The Nasdaq Composite slid -138.93 points, or 0.52%, to 26,402.42
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -41.97 points, or 1.39% to 2,972.37

• Earnings After the Close: CANG

• President Trump said this weekend, “The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY! At my direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Highly Respected Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and, through a partnership with private business, have secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to the American Taxpayer.”
• Financial Stability Board Chair Andrew Bailey warned G20 finance ministers and central bank governors that frontier AI models, greater equity-market leverage, and elevated AI valuations could increase the risk of financial-market disruption.

• Honda Motor (HMC) and Nissan Motor (NSAY) formally announced that they are partnering to develop the software and electronic foundation for their next generation of software-defined vehicles. The collaboration between the Japanese automakers is a focused technology agreement and not a return to the earlier discussion of a full merger between the auto giants.
• Target Corp (TGT) files for mixed shelf; size not disclosed.
• Lowe’s Companies Inc (LOW) files for offering of up to 2.5M shares of common stock.
• Volkswagen (VWAGY) CFO said believes that once current models are phased out in the early 2030s, its four German plants will lack economically viable follow-on production options. CFO said if the company does not cut excess capacity and instead continues planned production across all German plants, it would face a permanent cost disadvantage of about €1.5B a year.

• PG&E (PCG) tumble this morning, along with weakness in Edison (EIX) and Sempra Energy (SRE) amid failure of the California state legislature to pass meaningful reform. Friday was the last day for bills to be introduced, and the legislature passed SB 492, which does not do the two things required to re-rate California utilities: provide a replenishment mechanism or evergreen fund that will always maintain adequate capital in the wildfire fund and break the linkage between fund solvency and liability cap. PCG was downgraded at BMO, Wells Fargo and Mizuho which also cut EIX/SRE.
• SLB (SLB) announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Kelvion, a global provider of thermal management and heat exchange technologies; proposed deal for approximately $3.4B in cash; targets $4.5-$5B revenue and $700-$800M adj EBITDA for data center business in 2028.
• Saudi Arabia is in early talks to raise at least $8 billion in fresh loans as the Iran war pressures its economy and finances. Saudi Aramco is also discussing potential borrowing with banks.

• Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (ARWR) presented results from the Phase 3 SHASTA-3 and SHASTA-4 studies of Plozasiran in adults with severe hypertriglyceridemia during a Hot Line Late-Breaking Science session at the European Society of Cardiology, ESC, Congress 2026 in Munich, Germany. SHASTA-3 and SHASTA-4 met their primary and all prespecified secondary endpoints and demonstrated deep and durable reductions in triglycerides.
• Bayer (BAYRY) said an experimental imaging agent accurately identified cardiac amyloidosis in a Phase 3 study, producing sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 86% based on agreement among independent scan readers. Detailed results from the REVEAL trial of iodine 124 evuzamitide were presented Sunday at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich and published simultaneously in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
• BeOne Medicines (ONC) announced positive topline results from the second interim analysis of the Phase 3 HERIZON-GEA-01 trial evaluating Ziihera, in combination with chemotherapy, with and without Tevimbra, as first-line treatment for HER2+ locally advanced or metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, GEA.
• BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN) shares rose pre mkt after the company announced it will receive 20% royalties from Denmark’s Ascendis Pharma on sales of Yuviwel, a drug to boost lineae growth in children with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism.
• Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Merida Biosciences for up to $2.875B in cash, including an upfront payment and contingent milestone payments. Merida’s lead asset MER511 is in Phase 1 for Graves’ disease and thyroid eye disease, with initial data showing robust reductions in pathogenic thyroid-stimulating antibodies and a favorable initial safety profile.
• Ideaya Biosciences (IDYA) announces successful FDA Type C Meeting for IDE849, DLL3 TOP1 ADC, on phase 3 registrational trial design for potential accelerated and full approval in extensive stage small cell lung cancer.
• Protagonist Therapeutics (PTGX) announced that Takeda (TAK) received U.S. FDA approval for MIMRYLO, a subcutaneously delivered first-in-class hepcidin mimetic peptide for the treatment of erythrocytosis in adults with polycythemia vera.

• SK Hynix (SKHY) is looking for a site in Japan to build a memory fab to be operated as a joint venture Bloomberg reported. “We are looking all over Japan,” SK Hynix chairman Chey Tae-won told Bloomberg, “anywhere with good power and good water.”
• SK Hynix (SKHY) is reportedly considering a partnership with Intel’s (INTC) foundry division for the production of substrate chips for its upcoming generation of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM4E) products. This strategic move aims to reduce SK Hynix’s dependence on TSMC (TSM) for substrate manufacturing. Industry insiders suggest that collaborating with Intel could enhance SK Hynix’s options in terms of cost-efficiency and supply stability.