Market News for August 21, 2026
Every story Market Flux published on August 21, 2026.
- Most Active
Moderna Shares Whipsaw for Third Session After Phase 3 Cancer Vaccine Surge
Moderna shares have swung violently for three consecutive sessions following positive Phase 3 results for its personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, which triggered a roughly 177% single-session…
- Top Mover
Coinbase Surges Up to 8.89% as Bitcoin Tops $78,000 and Clarity Act Momentum Builds
Coinbase Global shares jumped between 7.58% and 8.89% on August 21, 2026, with the spread reflecting intraday reporting at different timestamps, as spot Bitcoin rallied past $78,000 and…
- Top Mover
Morgan Stanley Upgrades Ternium, Cuts Walmart Target and Picks Dallas for Expansion in Busy Week of Analyst Activity
Morgan Stanley issued a wave of analyst calls on August 21, upgrading Ternium (TX) to Overweight from Equal-Weight with a price target of $65, citing an improved tariff outlook, while also…
- Top Mover
Goldman Sachs Drives Dow Higher While Flagging Historic Hedge Fund Underperformance and Expanding in India
Goldman Sachs shares added roughly 240 points to the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday, helping push the index up about 500 points, as a broad set of research calls and business moves…
- Top Mover
Target Shares Jump 3.3% After Full-Year Sales Guidance Raise, Stock Hits 52-Week High
Target Corporation shares gained 3.30% on August 21 after the retailer raised its full-year sales outlook, citing resilient consumer foot traffic and strong retail volumes. The move pushed…
- Top Mover
Freeport-McMoRan Hits All-Time High of $74.52 as Copper Rally Drives Options Frenzy
Freeport-McMoRan shares surged to an all-time high of $74.52 on August 21, 2026, leading S&P 500 gainers at the open and finishing the session outperforming peers, according to multiple…
- Top Mover
Ross Stores Surges 8% After Record Q2 Sales and Raised Full-Year EPS Outlook
Ross Stores posted a blowout second quarter for fiscal 2026, reporting sales of $6.3 billion, up 13% from $5.5 billion a year earlier, with comparable sales growth of roughly 10% and net…
- Top Mover
Robinhood Markets Surges 14% on August 21 for Best Single-Day Gain Since September 2025
Robinhood Markets shares jumped 14% on Friday, August 21, making it the top performer in the S&P 500 for the session and the stock's best single-day gain since September 2025. The rally was…
- Market Flux Event
Nasdaq Closes Higher on OpEx Friday as Robinhood Surges 14% and Tech Posts Weekly Losses
U.S. equities navigated the August monthly options expiration on Friday, August 21, with the Nasdaq finishing in positive territory despite technology stocks leading the index to a losing…
- Market Flux Event
FDA Clears 11 Higher-Nicotine ZYN Ultra Products for Philip Morris International
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized 11 ZYN Ultra nicotine pouch products for Philip Morris International on August 21, 2026, clearing a new line of pouches with higher nicotine…
- Market Flux Event
Bitcoin Surges 21% on US Treasury Buyback Expansion as Dollar-Debasement Trade Returns
Bitcoin has rallied 21% since the US Treasury announced it would double its long-term bond buyback program from $2 billion to $4 billion, according to Glassnode data, approaching the…
- Market Flux Event
Ray Dalio Warns US Debt Crisis Could Hit Within Three Years, Urges 15% Gold Allocation
Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio issued a stark warning that the United States could face a debt crisis within three years unless it reduces its deficit to 3% of GDP. Dalio urged investors to…
- Market Flux Event
Trump Opens Beef Imports, Waives Winter Gasoline Rules and Transfers $725M to UN in Sweeping Friday Policy Push
President Trump on Friday announced a 90-day tariff-free import window for up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef, pledging that foreign suppliers have committed to sell the product at 25…
- Market Flux Event
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts Allows Trump White House Ballroom Construction to Continue Temporarily
Chief Justice John Roberts on August 21 temporarily allowed the Trump administration to continue construction of its $400 million White House ballroom project, pausing a lower court order…
- Top Story
Citadel Unwinds Over 80% of Situational Awareness Portfolio Risk Through $4 Billion in Block Trades
Ken Griffin told Citadel investors in a Friday letter that the firm has unwound more than 80% of the aggregate risk it took on when it purchased the stock portfolio of Leopold…
- Market Flux Event
Citadel Has Shed Over 80% of Risk From Situational Awareness Portfolio, Griffin Tells Investors
Ken Griffin disclosed in a Friday letter to clients that Citadel has shed more than 80% of the aggregate risk it took on when it purchased the bulk of Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational…
- Unusual Volume
Walmart Suffers Worst Single-Day Drop in Four Years After Slowest US Sales Growth in Six Years
Walmart shares fell roughly 9% on Thursday, erasing about $89 billion in market value in the company's worst trading session in four years, after its second-quarter results revealed US…
- Market Flux Event
Citadel Unwinds Over 80% of Situational Awareness Portfolio Risk Through $4 Billion in Block Trades
Ken Griffin told Citadel investors in a Friday letter that the firm has unwound more than 80% of the aggregate risk it took on when it purchased the stock portfolio of Leopold…
- Unusual Volume
Advance Auto Parts Stock Drops 25% After DIY Demand Miss Despite Tariff Windfall Boosting Q2 Margins
Advance Auto Parts shares fell roughly 25% after the company reported second-quarter 2026 results that showed a significant miss in comparable sales, driven by an unexpected deterioration…
- Unusual Volume
Ross Stores Surges 8% After Record Q2 Sales and Raised Full-Year Profit Guidance
Ross Stores posted a blowout fiscal second quarter ended August 1, with net sales of $6.3 billion, up 13% from $5.5 billion a year earlier, driven by double-digit comparable-store sales…
- Market Flux Event
Tesla Recalls 5.7 Million Vehicles in China Over Hidden Door Handles and Driver Monitoring in Industry-Wide Safety Push
Tesla is recalling more than 5.7 million vehicles in China across two separate actions ordered by the State Administration for Market Regulation. The larger recall, effective September 25…
- Market Flux Event
Iran's President and Parliament Speaker Publicly Push for War's End Before Economic Position Weakens Further
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called openly for ending the war with the United States while Tehran still believes it holds a position of strength, arguing it is better to reach a…
- Market Flux Event
Trump Opens 90-Day Tariff-Free Window for 300,000 Metric Tons of Ground Beef Imports
President Trump announced a 90-day suspension of out-of-quota tariffs on up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef imports, pledging that the beef will be sold at 25 percent below current…
- Market Flux Event
US Business Activity Surges to Four-Year High in August as Services PMI Blows Past Forecasts
S&P Global's flash composite PMI for the United States jumped to 56.0 in August from 54.5 in July, its strongest reading since April 2022 and well above the consensus estimate of 54.0. The…
- Market Flux Event
UBS Lifts S&P 500 Targets to 8,100 as Futures Rebound After Dow's 700-Point Selloff
U.S. stock futures rose Friday morning as Wall Street attempted to recover from a sharp yield-driven selloff that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 700 points on Thursday, its…
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- Market Flux Event
Moderna Surges Over 140% After Merck mRNA Cancer Vaccine Scores Historic Phase 3 Win
Moderna shares rocketed more than 140% and Merck gained roughly 12% on August 19 after the two companies reported the first-ever positive Phase 3 result for an individualized mRNA cancer…
- Market Flux Event
UBS Raises S&P 500 Target to 8,100 for Year-End and 8,400 by Mid-2027
UBS lifted its S&P 500 price targets to 8,100 for December 2026 and 8,400 for June 2027, declaring the bull market has further to run. The bank also raised its earnings-per-share forecasts…
- Market Flux Event
Indian Equities End Volatile Week Lower as Sensex Falls 468 Points, US Stocks Mixed on Earnings
Indian equity markets posted modest weekly losses in the session ended August 21, 2026, with the BSE Sensex shedding 468 points, or 0.60%, to close at 77,540.83, while the NSE Nifty 50…
- Market Flux Event
S&P 500 and Nasdaq Head for First Weekly Loss Since Late July as Treasury Yield Surge Batters Stocks
U.S. stock futures bounced on Friday morning, with Dow futures up roughly 199 points or 0.4%, S&P 500 futures gaining 0.3%, and Nasdaq-100 contracts rising 0.6%, as investors sought footing…
- Market Flux Event
Welspun Corp Surges 14% on Record $1.8 Billion Export Contract as Walmart Tumbles 9% After Earnings
Welspun Corp was the standout mover in Indian markets on August 21, 2026, surging 14% intraday after winning its largest-ever single export contract, worth approximately $1.8 billion…
- Market Flux Event
Bitcoin Surges Past $75000 as Trump Regulatory Push and Treasury Buybacks Fuel Crypto Rally
Bitcoin climbed above $75,000 on Friday, extending a nearly 22% advance over five straight sessions and pushing prices to levels last seen in late May. The rally was catalyzed by two…
- Market Flux Event
Bitcoin Surges Past $75,000 for First Time Since May as Coinbase CEO Declares Bull Market Has Begun
Bitcoin climbed above $75,000 on August 21, its highest level since late May, capping a rally of nearly 20% in a single week that carried the cryptocurrency from a June 30 low of $58,856…
- Market Flux Event
Bitcoin Surges Past $75,500 as Trump White House Crypto Summit Sparks Record Short Squeeze
Bitcoin broke above $75,500 early Friday Asia time, extending a powerful multi-day rally that began after President Donald Trump hosted a White House summit for crypto executives and pushed…
- Market Flux Event
Wall Street Drops Sharply as Treasury Yields Surge and Walmart Disappoints
U.S. stocks fell broadly on August 20 as rising Treasury yields and weak retail earnings weighed on markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 703.84 points, or 1.32%, to 52,759.21…
- Market Flux Event
Japan Core CPI Rises 1.8% in July for Second Straight Monthly Acceleration, Markets Price 80% Odds of September BOJ Hike
Japan's core consumer price index climbed 1.8% year-on-year in July, accelerating for a second consecutive month and reinforcing expectations that the Bank of Japan will raise its policy…