News desk · Evening edition · Friday, August 21, 2026

Equities steady near record highs, with the S&P 500 up 0.43% to 7674 and the VIX easing to 15.16, even as the 10-year yield pushes to 4.74%. Bessent's Treasury buyback push still hasn't brought borrowing costs down, keeping bond-market skepticism alive despite the stock rebound. Energy and Health Care remain the month's leaders, up 7.17% and 8.16%, while investors await Nvidia's earnings as a potential catalyst for a stalled market.

auto-generated · written Aug 21, 2026, 4:20 PM EDT

Prices in this edition were taken live, not from stored closes. They were read at the Evening edition slot on Friday, August 21, 2026. Anything named as a cause may come from a headline the desk was given.

Equities

Walmart shares slide 9% after disappointing guidance ahead of earnings
Tapestry shares tumble as much as 17% despite 14% Coach sales growth
Berkshire Hathaway buybacks jump roughly 19x under new deputy Greg Abel

Sector and commodities

Energy stocks rally as Iran ceasefire ends and oil prices climb
Gold and silver rise ahead of FOMC minutes on lower rate-hike odds
Samsung unveils up to $80 billion shareholder return plan after SK Hynix buyback

Crypto

extends rally toward $80,000 after SEC proposes new crypto regulation
Whale accumulation and ETF inflows cited as additional drivers of the crypto move

Fixed income

Bessent's Treasury buyback and intervention efforts fail to hold down bond yields
Longer-dated yields climb again after the initial buyback-driven rally fizzled

FTSE 100 (FTSE)+0.6%

FTSE 100 recovers to 10816 after sliding through mid-August, still below its late-July peak near 10908.

DAX (GDAXI)+0.6%

DAX pulls back from its August 14 high of 26440 to 26136, tracking the broader European wobble.

S&P 500 (GSPC)+0.4%

S&P 500 steadies at 7674 after yesterday's dip, still holding most of August's gains from 7413.