AI Stocks Close
🔔 AI Stocks Close — Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 2:15 PM
Closes: SPX 7,691.76 (-0.69%) · NASDAQ 26,299 (-1.30%, NDX -1.69%) · DJI 53,331 (-0.24%)
Day narrative: A bond-market problem became an AI problem — the 30-year Treasury yield pushed to 5.33%, its highest close since 2007, and the longest-duration trade on the board got repriced. Semis took the brunt, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down more than 5% while the Dow barely flinched.
Sectors: Best Health Care (+1.8%) · Worst Technology (-2.6%)
Movers:
• MU -6.98% — memory complex gutted by the rate reset, plus fresh Netlist ITC and federal patent actions targeting DDR5 imports
• ARM -6.67% — high-multiple licensing model squeezed hardest as discount rates jumped
• CRWV -11% / WULF -12% — neocloud and AI-infrastructure names hammered on borrowing-cost math
• META -4.45% — AI capex-heavy megacap caught in the duration derating
• ADBE +3.58% / CRM +2.71% — cash-generative software caught the rotation out of AI hardware; Citi lifted its Salesforce target on Agentforce traction
• KLAR -18% — Klarna cut guidance despite a surprise quarterly profit
After-hours / Earnings:
• WYFI -23.8% AH — WhiteFiber gapped hard lower post-print, an ugly coda to the neocloud rout
• MRCY -13.8% AH — Mercury Systems sold off sharply after results
• TOL, KEYS, ZTO all reported after the bell; index futures were essentially flat, so nothing systemic yet
Watchlist:
• MU $941.10 (-6.98% day, -0.36% AH)
• NVDA $219.74 (-2.34% day, +0.07% AH)
• MSFT $481.63 (+0.27% day)
• GOOGL $344.20 (+0.06% day)
• META $543.67 (-4.45% day, +0.19% AH)
• AMZN $259.45 (-0.71% day)
• AAPL $310.03 (+1.45% day)
• AMD $484.39 (-4.27% day)
• TSLA $336.87 (-0.72% day)
• PLTR $171.54 (-0.59% day)
• ARM $253.32 (-6.67% day)
• SMCI $37.41 (-2.27% day)
• ORCL $142.79 (-2.63% day)
• SOUN $6.99 (-0.71% day)
• IONQ $44.12 (-5.81% day)
• BBAI $3.13 (-2.49% day)
• AVGO $380.00 (-3.17% day, +0.07% AH)
• CRM $196.14 (+2.71% day)
• ADBE $263.14 (+3.58% day)
• IBM $232.67 (+1.67% day)
• SNOW $325.33 (-1.45% day)
• MDB $434.62 (-0.93% day)
• NET $301.36 (-1.84% day)
• CRWD $212.92 (-0.46% day)
• TSM $413.41 (-4.07% day, +0.07% AH)
• ASML $1,802.98 (-4.26% day, +0.16% AH)
Macro:
• 30-year Treasury 5.333%, highest close since June 2007; 10-year at 4.70%, highest since January 2025
• The 60-day U.S.–Iran ceasefire expired without a permanent deal — Brent near $91, WTI near $85, and energy was one of the few green sectors
• AI-related corporate bond issuance is now itself a term-premium story, which is why the bond move and the chip move are the same move
• IPO watch: Anthropic and OpenAI both have confidential filings in; OpenAI is reportedly eyeing Q4, Anthropic last raised at a $965B valuation in May. Neither trades yet.
Tomorrow: July FOMC minutes at 2:00 p.m. ET — the record of that 9–3 vote with a three-way same-direction dissent is the day's main event. Earnings from Keysight, Urban Outfitters and Toll Brothers digest overnight. Nvidia's fiscal Q2 print lands August 26, with Jackson Hole in the same window.