Markets News, Aug. 20, 2026: Major Indexes Slide After Snapping 3-Day Skids; Oil Prices, Treasury Yields, Bitcoin Rise; Walmart Stock Drops

Markets News, Aug. 20, 2026: Major Indexes Slide After Snapping 3-Day Skids; Oil Prices, Treasury Yields, Bitcoin Rise; Walmart Stock Drops

Aaron Rennie

Thu, August 20, 2026 at 1:42 PM GMT+3 6 min read

Major U.S. stock indexes slumped on Thursday, a day after they snapped three-session losing streaks, as Walmart shares tumbled. Meanwhile, bitcoin, oil prices, and Treasury yields rose.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, tech-focused Nasdaq Composite, and benchmark S&P 500 declined 1.3%, 1%, and 0.9%, respectively.

Shares of Walmart (WMT), a Dow component and a leading retailer seen as an economic bellwether, sank 9% after it issued soft third-quarter guidance. It was the worst-performing stock in the Dow and Nasdaq 100, and among the worst in the S&P 500.

On Wednesday, the three major indexes finished up roughly 0.2% apiece, and bond yields fell, after the Treasury Department said it would "at least double" its buyback of longer-term debt. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday said buybacks could be even larger than what was announced Wednesday. Still, the 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of consumer loans including mortgages, rose to 4.71% from 4.65% Wednesday.

Bitcoin extended yesterday's gains on Thursday. The world's premier cryptocurrency traded around $72,700 in the late afternoon, just off its intraday peak of $72,900, its highest level since early June. Crypto-tied stocks MARA Holdings (MARA), Strategy (MSTR), and Coinbase Global (COIN) jumped Thursday following advances Wednesday.

Crude oil prices rose after President Donald Trump threatened "economic D-Day" on Iran as talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remain stalled. WTI futures, the U.S. benchmark, rose nearly 3% to about $88.15 a barrel, while Brent futures, the international benchmark, advanced 2% to $93.50.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, ticked up 0.1% to 98.90. Gold futures advanced 0.7% to around $4,585 an ounce.

Tesla (TSLA), which led Magnificent Seven gainers at more than 4% Wednesday, slid nearly 2%. All of the Mag 7 stocks declined on Thursday, but Amazon (AMZN), with its 2.2% drop, was the worst performer. Shares of Moderna (MRNA) pulled back 24% to lead S&P 500 decliners after skyrocketing more than 175% yesterday after it announced positive results from a late-stage trial of an experimental mRNA-based cancer vaccine.

In post-earnings moves, Deere & Co. (DE) rose 7%; Advance Auto Parts (AAP) tumbled 26%; and U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firm NetEase (NTES) declined 6%. Alibaba (BABA) rebounded from early losses to add more than 1%.

AUGUST 20, 2026 AT 07:43 PM GMT

Treasury Yields Rebound as Government Buybacks Fail To Tame Bond Market

Treasury yields were back on the rise Thursday despite Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's efforts to reassure bond investors and bring yields under control.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was recently up about five basis points at 4.7%, just shy of Tuesday's year-to-date high of 4.75%. The 30-year yield, which hit its highest level in nearly two decades on Tuesday, rose 4 basis points to 5.23%.

Yields dropped sharply yesterday after Bessent said the Treasury would "at least double" its buybacks of debt ranging from 10 to 30 years in duration. Bessent, speaking to CNBC Thursday morning, said the actual size of the buybacks "could be more" than the $4 billion figure implied by his comments Wednesday. Bessent said high long-term yields were a byproduct of "very poor" liquidity, and "don't reflect the underlying fundamentals."

This week's Treasury market volatility coincides with the U.S. national debt exceeding $40 trillion for the first time. America's ballooning debt and fiscal deficits bear at least some responsibility for higher yields, with investors demanding higher compensation for buying U.S. government debt to counter the mounting risk of a default.

-Colin Laidley

AUGUST 20, 2026 AT 06:38 PM GMT

Energy Is Top-Performing Sector on Tough Day for S&P 500

With crude oil prices gaining, energy stocks are outperforming the overall S&P 500 on a rough day for the benchmark index.

The S&P 500 Energy Sector is up 0.6%, easily the top performer of the 11 industries tracked by the index.

Just one other—Real Estate—is in the green Thursday afternoon. The S&P 500 is down 0.7% overall.

WTI oil prices are up more than 2% today, and crude producer ConocoPhillips (COP), up 3%, is the top-performing stock in the Energy sector. Occidental Petroleum (OXY), APA (APA), and Devon Energy (DVN) all are up more than 2%.

–Aaron Rennie

AUGUST 20, 2026 AT 05:46 PM GMT

Advance Auto Parts Stock Plunges on Sales Miss as 'Tighter Household Budgets Constrained Spending'

Do-it-yourself customers experienced "tighter household budgets" in the second quarter, Advance Auto Parts CEO Shane O'Kelly said on Thursday. The company reported disappointing sales as a result, and shareholders are selling the stock.

Advance Auto Parts (AAP) shares are sinking 26% in afternoon trading after the retailer posted Q2 net sales of $2 billion, below the consensus $2.04 billion forecast of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. Comparable store sales decreased 0.5% when an increase of 1.36% was expected.

O'Kelly attributed the results to weakness in its DIY channel, saying that "tighter household budgets constrained spending more than we anticipated, especially during the last four weeks of the quarter."

Adjusted earnings of $1.03 per share topped Visible Alpha consensus of $0.80 per share, however, and the Raleigh, N.C.-based company affirmed its full-year projections for sales, adjusted operating income margin, and free cash flow.

With today's sharp decline, shares of Advance Auto Parts now are up just 5% this year.

-Aaron Rennie

AUGUST 20, 2026 AT 04:42 PM GMT

Deere Stock Leads S&P 500 Gainers After Construction Unit Drives Earnings Beat

Deere & Co. (DE) was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 on Thursday after the agricultural and industrial equipment maker posted better-than-expected quarterly results driven by its construction and forestry business.

Deere grew earnings 7% last quarter to $1.38 billion, or $5.10 per share, topping the $4.72 expected by analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. Total net sales and revenue increased 5% to $12.61 billion, also beating estimates. Deere raised the lower end of its full-year earnings guidance range to $4.75 billion from $4.5 billion, and left the upper bound unchanged at $5 billion.

A 6% revenue decline at the production and precision agriculture unit, Deere's largest business, was more than offset by 18% growth at its construction and forestry business. That unit's operating profit nearly doubled last quarter due in large part to higher prices. Deere's small agriculture and turf business also booked double-digit sales growth amid rising volumes and prices.

"As we look ahead, we continue to believe 2026 will mark the bottom of the current ag equipment cycle," CEO John C. May said in a press release. "Across our business, early order program trends, improving used-equipment inventories, and increasing customer adoption of our advanced technologies give us confidence that Deere is well positioned for long-term value creation."

Deere stock was recently up about 9% to lead S&P 500 gainers. The stock has gained more than one-third of its value this year, and on Thursday was trading just 5% off February's all-time high.

-Colin Laidley

AUGUST 20, 2026 AT 03:51 PM GMT

Bitcoin and Altcoins Are Rallying. Is 'Crypto Winter' Thawing?

Signs of a crypto thaw are beginning to show.

Bitcoin rallied for a second straight day, climbing above $72,000—a level it hasn't seen since early June—in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Meanwhile, altcoins are rallying furiously, with ether, xrp, and hype all rising at least 20% in the past 24 hours.

Traders appear to be betting on a tailwind from several small regulatory wins this week even as the perceived odds of the Clarity Act, a broad framework for putting rules around digital assets, passing this year have dwindled.

Crypto traders were already cheering yesterday after the Treasury Department said it would step up government debt buybacks, a move seen as stabilizing for markets and good for risk assets. President Donald Trump added good vibes when he hinted that Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig was working on a way to allow DeFi platform Hyperliquid to legally operate in the U.S.

"I understand that Mike is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion," the president said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Trump nodded to a crypto "Who's Who" at the conference, which had Coinbase (COIN) chief Brian Armstrong, Gemini's (GEMI) Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Kraken chief Arjun Sethi. (Robinhood's (HOOD) Vlad Tenev appeared on camera, and Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse got a shoutout.)

Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission also proposed rules that would allow crypto startups to raise capital through token offerings.

Crypto-linked stocks Coinbase and Strategy (MSTR) were each up about 7% in recent trading.

–Crystal Kim

AUGUST 20, 2026 AT 02:48 PM GMT

Walmart Stock Slumps as a Soft Forecast Outweighs Solid Results

Walmart shares are sliding after the nation's largest retailer gave a disappointing forecast for the third quarter.

Walmart (WMT) shares were down nearly 8% in recent trading. The retailer said it expects third-quarter sales to rise by 3% to 3.75% year-over-year, with adjusted EPS between 62 and 64 cents, below the 4.9% revenue growth and EPS of 67 cents analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for.

The weaker-than-anticipated outlook for the current quarter overshadowed solid second-quarter results and higher guidance for the year. Walmart lifted its full-year forecast to sales growth of 4% to 5%, up from 3.5% to 4.5% previously, along with adjusted EPS of $2.80 to $2.87 compared to the prior range of $2.75 to $2.85.

Walmart CFO John David Rainey told CNBC that the company is eligible to receive about $2.9 billion in tariff refunds, which he expects to help Walmart offset higher costs and support lower prices for consumers.

The company reported adjusted earnings per share of 81 cents on a 6% jump in revenue to $187.94 billion in the second quarter. Both measures came in above the Visible Alpha consensus. Comparable sales growth came in at 3.1% across Walmart's U.S. locations, below the 3.7% analysts projected.

Thursday's slump dragged Walmart's stock back into negative territory for the year.

-Aaron McDade

AUGUST 20, 2026 AT 01:50 PM GMT

A Bullish Signal Could Point to Gains Ahead for These Big Tech Stocks

Some of America's biggest tech stocks have been flashing a bullish signal lately, according to Morgan Stanley.

A growing gap between institutional ownership of the stocks and their benchmark weights could point to gains ahead, based on the bank's historical analysis, Morgan Stanley analysts told clients in a note this week. Stocks "appear to experience a technical pull higher when active ownership is much lower than the market, and vice versa," the analysts wrote.

For Nvidia (NVDA), which saw its average weighting in institutional portfolios fall below 5% in the second quarter, lagging its close to 8% weight in the benchmark S&P 500 index, that gap is near all-time highs, suggesting room for the stock to rise.

Nvidia is the most "under-owned" of the mega-cap stocks in the bank's tech coverage, Morgan Stanley wrote, followed by Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL).

Read the full article here.

-Kara Greenberg

AUGUST 20, 2026 AT 11:20 AM GMT

Behind the Scenes at the Fed: Pressure Growing for Higher Rates, Fewer Meetings

The next few months at the Federal Reserve might bring higher interest rates, delivered over fewer meetings.

That's according to minutes released Wednesday from the Federal Open Market Committee's most recent meeting in July, which confirmed the impression from public remarks that a growing number of Fed officials are losing patience with high inflation, and increasingly inclined to raise interest rates to fight it.

The new records also confirmed a story, first reported by the New York Times this month, that Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is considering reducing the frequency of Fed meetings to six a year from eight.

The minutes shed light on the reasoning of members of the Federal Open Market Committee, who voted last month to keep the Fed's benchmark interest rate unchanged at the 3.5%-3.75% range. Three officials dissented from the majority, voting instead for a quarter-point rate hike to push down inflation that has run above the Fed's goal of a 2% annual rate of increase for more than five years.

Read the full article here.

-Diccon Hyatt

AUGUST 20, 2026 AT 10:42 AM GMT

Stock Futures Little Changed After Indexes Snap 3-Day Skids

Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointed down 0.2%.

S&P 500 futures were little changed.

Nasdaq 100 futures ticked 0.1% higher.

Read the original article on Investopedia