Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq rise as bitcoin surges

Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq rise as bitcoin surges

Grace O'Donnell · Editor, Special Projects

Updated Fri, August 21, 2026 at 4:45 PM GMT+3 2 min read

US stocks rose on Friday as investors awaited more details on President Trump's "economic warfare" plan against Iran and bitcoin's price (BTC-USD) soared.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.5%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) added 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained 0.5% after stocks closed down the day before.

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Stocks were headed for weekly losses after a bond sell-off this week put pressure on capital-intensive AI and tech names like Nvidia (NVDA) and SpaceX (SPCX).

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) continued to rise, reaching $77,000 as the cryptocurrency headed for its best week in nearly three years.

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shared plans to expand bond buybacks and increase the program's size beyond $4 billion per issue. "Part of it is signaling here to show that we believe yields don't reflect the underlying fundamentals," Bessent told CNBC.

But relief in the bond market lasted only a short while as markets viewed the measure as a limited fix, with the 10-year (^TNX) and 30-year Treasury yields (^TYX) snapping back to previously held higher levels.

Investors are now looking ahead to Bessent's press conference on Monday, where he will unveil the details of the US's plan to economically isolate Iran in the latest phase of the Middle East war. Earlier in the week, Trump threatened to inflict "TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences" on any country that trades with Iran, which put the focus on China, which sources oil from the Gulf.

The Fed's Jackson Hole Symposium and Nvidia's second quarter earnings next week are also coming into view. In the meantime, the release of S&P Global's Purchasing Managers' Index will provide investors with a read on the health of the manufacturing and services sector, while quarterly results from BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) showed that the warehouse club's value proposition resonated with cost-conscious consumers.