US stocks weekly: Rate rattle

Target

21/08/2026 21:40

** S&P 500 .SPX snaps 3-week winning streak, retreats 1.4% as bond market turbulence weighs .N
** Dow .DJI edges down 0.8%, Nasdaq Composite .IXIC drops 2.1%
** Rising breadth supported bullish Nasdaq outlook week before, but internal measure retreats five straight days through Fri as tech-heavy index sinks  
** But bulls still look for a bounce after S&P 500 pulls back from records
** And Dow .DJI survives crucial support test Fri ahead of PCE, Nvidia, Jackson Hole
** U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield US10YT=RR falls to as low as 4.63%, then rises to 4.74% area as long-term breakout gathers momentum
** Vast majority of sectors receive a shock: Interest rate-sensitive Utilities, Industrials and Tech shiver, while Healthcare soothes
** Tech .SPLRCT drops 3.2%. Nvidia NVDA.O to guarantee OpenAI's Ohio data center for up to $105 bln. NVDA finishes week down nearly 5%
Semiconductor index .SOX sheds 5.5%
** Financials .SPSY sag 1.2%. But Coinbase COIN.O and Robinhood Markets HOOD.O vault as bitcoin BTC= extends rally after President Trump urges Congress to pass crypto bill, and boost to risk assets following Treasury Department's move to support ​long-duration bonds
** Consumer Staples .SPLRCS down 1%. Walmart WMT.O slumps after rare comparable sales miss in Q2
Though Target TGT.N rises after second annual sales forecast hike this year on turnaround efforts
** Consumer Discretionary .SPLRCD dips 0.2%. Home Depot HD.N initially rises on Tues after Q2 beat as steady repair demand helped offset sluggish spending on big-ticket projects, but HD ends slightly red
** Materials .SPLRCM up 2.3%. Gold miners including Newmont NEM.N track rise in spot gold XAU=, driven by weaker dollar =USD and U.S. Treasury's surprise mid-week liquidity support announcement.
Spot gold shines, miners soar, and metal clears resistance hurdles on Fri
PHLX Gold/Silver Index .XAU surges ~14%
** Healthcare .SPXHC jumps 4.3%. Moderna MRNA.O zooms 129% on the week after melanoma skin cancer vaccine combined with Merck's MRK.N Keytruda reduced recurrence in late-stage trial, companies say, boosting biotech stocks 
Nasdaq Biotech index .NBI climbs ~7%, hits fresh record high
** Meanwhile, Rising AI-related debt issuance, widening tech CDS spreads: Is there a cliff up ahead? While Carson Group also weighs in on AI buildout increasingly fueled by debt
** SPX performance YTD:
     
Energy
41.2%
Tech
19.9%
Materials
17.0%
Industrials
16.0%
Healthcare
12.6%
Real Estate
12.4%
SPX
12.1%
Staples
8.8%
Financials
4.8%
Discretionary
0.3%
Comm Svcs
-0.2%
Utils
-0.2%
​

(Lance Tupper and Terence Gabriel are Reuters market analysts. The views expressed are their own)
((lance.tupper@tr.com ; terence.gabriel@tr.com))