Market News for August 18, 2026
Every story Market Flux published on August 18, 2026.
- Market Flux Event
JBS Proposes to Acquire Remaining 18% Stake in Pilgrim's Pride for 2.086 Shares Each in $1.2 Billion Deal
JBS N.V., the world's largest meatpacker, submitted a non-binding proposal on August 18 to acquire all outstanding shares of Pilgrim's Pride Corporation that JBS does not already own…
- Market Flux Event
30-Year Treasury Yield Hits 5.33%, Highest Since 2007, on Fiscal and Inflation Fears
The yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond surged to 5.33% on August 18, its highest level in 19 years, as investors grew increasingly alarmed by the deteriorating U.S. fiscal outlook and…
- Market Flux Event
30-Year Treasury Yield Hits 19-Year High as Global Bond Rout Drags Stocks Lower for Third Straight Day
A sweeping selloff in global sovereign bonds pushed the yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury to 5.34% on Tuesday, its highest level since 2007, while the 10-year yield rose to 4.74%, near the…
- Market Flux Event
Independent US Oil Producers Set to Sign Production Deals with Venezuela's PdVSA in Houston
Several smaller, independent U.S. oil producers are expected to sign production contracts with Venezuela's state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, known as PdVSA, at a signing ceremony…
- Most Active
Francisco Partners to Take Weave Communications Private for $650 Million at $7.40 a Share
Francisco Partners agreed to acquire Weave Communications in a take-private deal valued at approximately $650 million, or $7.40 per share in cash, with the transaction expected to close in…
- Most Active
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Surges Over 50% After Avexitide Hits Primary Endpoint in Phase 3 LUCIDITY Trial
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals stock surged as much as 53% on August 18, hitting a 52-week high of $29.86, after the company reported positive topline results from its Phase 3 LUCIDITY clinical…
- Most Active
Datavault AI Signs $94.5M All-Cash Deal to Acquire CyberCatch Ahead of Q2 Earnings and Amid Shareholder Lawsuit Deadline
Datavault AI Inc. (NASDAQ: DVLT) announced a definitive agreement on August 17-18, 2026 to acquire CyberCatch Holdings, Inc. (TSXV: CYBE) in an all-cash transaction valued at $94.5 million…
- Top Story
Bitcoin Breaks $65K as White House Crypto Summit Looms and Citi Confirms BTC Custody Launch
Bitcoin climbed back to $65,000 for the first time in a week on August 18, triggering roughly $30 million in short liquidations within 60 minutes of the breakout, as the S&P 500 rebounded…
- Top Mover
Keysight Technologies Q3 Revenue Surges 37% on AI Data Center Demand, Shares Jump 5%
Keysight Technologies reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $1.85 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion and rising 37% year over year. Adjusted earnings per share came…
- Top Mover
Johnson and Johnson Options Activity Surges as Immunology and Neuroscience Units Emerge as Growth Engines
Johnson and Johnson drew notable attention in options markets on Tuesday, with 42,583 contracts trading across its shares, representing approximately 4.3 million underlying shares, among…
- Top Mover
Targa Resources Surges to All-Time High After Signing 20-Year ExxonMobil Permian Midstream Deals
Targa Resources Corp. announced 20-year integrated midstream agreements with subsidiaries of ExxonMobil Holdings Corp. covering significant acreage across both the Permian Delaware and…
- Market Flux Event
US-Canada 50% Tariff Deadline Looms as Trade Talks Stall and Global Bond Yields Hit Multi-Decade Highs
Currency and bond markets are under simultaneous pressure from two converging forces heading into Tuesday night. The US and Canada face a midnight deadline before a 50% tariff on billions…
- Market Flux Event
SEC Proposes Regulation Crypto Assets with Two Fundraising Exemptions as Congressional Action Lags
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday proposed a new framework called Regulation Crypto Assets that would create a tailored securities offering regime for certain crypto…
- Market Flux Event
Bitcoin Holds Near $64,000 With Weak Spot Demand and Fading Volatility
Bitcoin has stabilized around $64,000, but the rebound is showing signs of fragility. Spot demand remains thin, with a short-squeeze widely credited for driving the move rather than genuine…
- Market Flux Event
SEC Proposes Regulation Crypto to Create Tailored Offering Regime for Digital Assets as Congressional Bill Stalls
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday proposed new rules, referred to as Regulation Crypto, designed to create a clear and fit-for-purpose framework for certain investment…
- Market Flux Event
Trump Pauses 50% Canada Tariffs for Three Days After Last-Minute Deal
President Trump announced hours before a midnight deadline that he would pause threatened 50% tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian imports for three days, through August…
- Market Flux Event
30-Year Treasury Yield Hits 19-Year High of 5.33% as Fiscal Fears and Inflation Drive Global Bond Selloff
The yield on the U.S. 30-year Treasury bond surged to a new 19-year high of 5.33% on Tuesday, its loftiest level since 2007, before pulling back slightly to around 5.29%, as investors grew…
- Market Flux Event
Anthropic Revolving Credit Facility Poised to Exceed $10 Billion Ahead of IPO
Anthropic's pre-IPO revolving credit facility is on track to surpass its roughly $10 billion target, Bloomberg reported on August 18, as the AI company works toward a highly anticipated…
- Market Flux Event
Apple Overhauls EU App Store Fees From October 1, Replacing Per-Install Charge With 5% Commission
Apple is revamping its EU App Store terms effective October 1, 2026, replacing the existing Core Technology Fee with a new 5% Core Technology Commission on digital transactions completed…
- Market Flux Event
Cybersecurity and Momentum ETFs Draw Hundreds of Millions in Fresh Cash While Homebuilders and Australia Funds Bleed Assets
A snapshot of week-over-week ETF flow data as of August 18, 2026 shows notable divergence in investor appetite across sectors. On the inflow side, the First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF…
- Top Story
Nvidia Commits $105 Billion to Back OpenAI Ohio Data Center as Circular Financing Concerns Mount
Nvidia has agreed to provide a guarantee of up to $105 billion to help OpenAI lease a massive data center in Ohio being developed by SoftBank-owned SB Energy, one of the chipmaker's largest…
- Market Flux Event
Nvidia Commits $105 Billion to Back OpenAI Ohio Data Center as Circular Financing Concerns Mount
Nvidia has agreed to provide a guarantee of up to $105 billion to help OpenAI lease a massive data center in Ohio being developed by SoftBank-owned SB Energy, one of the chipmaker's largest…
- Market Flux Event
Metaplanet Acquires 95.7% of Super League for 2,100 BTC to Launch US Bitcoin Treasury Firm Superplanet
Japanese Bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet is expanding into the United States by acquiring a controlling stake of approximately 95.7% in Nasdaq-listed Super League Enterprise in exchange…
- Market Flux Event
Bitcoin Breaks $65K as White House Crypto Summit Looms and Citi Confirms BTC Custody Launch
Bitcoin climbed back to $65,000 for the first time in a week on August 18, triggering roughly $30 million in short liquidations within 60 minutes of the breakout, as the S&P 500 rebounded…
- Market Flux Event
Akari Therapeutics Targets Mid-2027 Human Trial for Urothelial Cancer ADC Candidate AKTX-101
Akari Therapeutics disclosed preclinical data supporting AKTX-101, its antibody-drug conjugate candidate for urothelial cancer, and set a mid-2027 target for its first human trial. The…
Show 15 more
- Market Flux Event
KKR Makes $9 Billion Takeover Bid for UGI at $42.50 a Share
KKR has offered to acquire UGI Corporation, a Pennsylvania-based natural gas and electricity distributor, for approximately $9 billion, or $42.50 per share in cash, according to people…
- Unusual Volume
Fabrinet Stock Plunges Up to 20% Despite Record Q4 Revenue and Earnings Beat
Fabrinet shares fell as much as 20% on August 18 after the optical and precision manufacturing company reported record fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results, with revenue of $1.316 billion, up…
- Market Flux Event
Rising Treasury Yields and Expiring US-Iran Truce Hammer Chip Stocks on Tuesday
Semiconductor stocks led a broad market selloff on Tuesday, August 18, as the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield climbed to 5.333 percent, on pace for its highest close since June 2007, and the…
- Top Story
Trump Declares No Iran Talks as Hormuz Standoff Enters Day 170 With Expiring Deal and Oman Threats
President Donald Trump flatly ruled out any negotiations with Iran on August 18, posting on Truth Social that no talks are underway or scheduled with the Islamic Republic, while confirming…
- Unusual Volume
Jane Street Rebuilds Bitcoin ETF Stake to Over $1 Billion Led by BlackRock's IBIT as BlackRock Defends BTC Investment Case
Jane Street Group disclosed more than $1 billion in spot Bitcoin ETF holdings as of June 30, 2026, according to its latest 13F filing, sharply reversing a 71% cut made in the first quarter…
- Unusual Volume
Home Depot Q2 Sales Rise 5.7% to $47.9B with Best Comp Growth Since 2022, Full-Year Guidance Reaffirmed
Home Depot reported second-quarter fiscal 2026 results that beat Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom lines, as homeowners leaned into smaller spring maintenance projects…
- Market Flux Event
US July Import and Export Prices Tumble Far Below Forecasts as Treasury Yields Hit Post-2025 High
A cluster of US economic data released August 18 painted a mixed picture of slowing price pressures and modest output growth. Import prices fell 0.4% month-over-month in July, sharply…
- Market Flux Event
Trump Shuts Down Iran Talks, Claims Hormuz as US Territory as UAE Reports Missile Threat
President Donald Trump declared on August 18 that no talks with Iran are taking place or scheduled, flatly contradicting Iran's foreign minister, who said the US was "begging" for…
- Market Flux Event
Disney and ABC Sue FCC Over Retaliatory Early License Renewal Process Tied to Trump Criticism
Walt Disney and its ABC unit filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission on August 18, seeking a court order to halt an early broadcast license renewal…
- Market Flux Event
Goldman Sachs Agrees to Buy Real-Estate Firm LCN Capital Partners for Up to $410 Million
Goldman Sachs has agreed to acquire LCN Capital Partners, a private commercial real-estate investment firm, for as much as $410 million. LCN specializes in sale-leaseback agreements and…
- Market Flux Event
US July Housing Starts Plunge 12.4% to 1.239M Units, Far Below Forecasts
US housing starts fell sharply in July 2026, dropping 12.4% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.239 million units, well below the consensus estimate of 1.345 to 1.350 million and a…
- Market Flux Event
Home Depot Q2 Sales Rise 5.7% to $47.9 Billion as Smaller Projects Offset Housing Slump
Home Depot reported second-quarter fiscal 2026 sales of $47.9 billion, up 5.7% from a year earlier and ahead of Wall Street expectations, as homeowners leaned into spring maintenance and…
- Market Flux Event
Amylyx LUCIDITY Trial Hits Primary Endpoint With 55% Reduction in Hypoglycemic Events, Stock Surges 30%
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals reported on August 18 that its Phase 3 LUCIDITY trial of avexitide met the FDA-agreed primary endpoint, delivering a 55% reduction in composite Level 2 and Level 3…
- Market Flux Event
UK Unemployment Holds at 4.9% as Job Growth and Hiring Miss Estimates
The UK labor market showed further signs of softening in the April-to-June quarter, with the ILO unemployment rate holding steady at 4.9%, a tenth of a percentage point above the 4.8%…
- Market Flux Event
Dollar Firms as Fed Hike Odds Rise to 37% and Gold Slides Below $4,400
Currency and commodity markets were pulled in competing directions as traders weighed Federal Reserve policy signals, oil-driven inflation risks, and escalating U.S.-Iran tensions. The…