AI Stocks Midday
📊 AI Stocks Midday Pulse — Thursday, August 20, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Indices: SPX 7,680 (-0.36%) · NDX 26,146 (-0.70%) · DJI 53,069 (-0.74%)
Tone: Risk-off — yields snapped back and the bid vanished
Movers so far:
• WMT -9.0% — beat on earnings, but 2.6% US same-store growth missed the 3.7% bar; gas prices squeezing the consumer
• MU +2.0% — bucking the tape on a $10B, decade-long "Micron Research Labs" buildout in Boise
• IONQ -6.2% — quantum names extending a multiday slide; RGTI down about the same
• MDB -4.0% / CRWD -3.9% — high-multiple software getting repriced as the 30-year pushes 5.25%
• DE +8.7% — the day's odd bright spot, well outside the AI complex
Watchlist:
• MU $955.35 (+1.95%)
• NVDA $216.61 (-0.44%)
• MSFT $481.08 (-0.48%)
• GOOGL $340.86 (-1.12%)
• META $543.22 (-0.51%)
• AMZN $261.99 (-1.45%)
• AAPL $316.54 (-0.09%)
• AMD $462.98 (-0.74%)
• TSLA $344.37 (-1.92%)
• PLTR $174.90 (-0.17%)
• ARM $247.40 (-0.78%)
• SMCI $35.79 (-2.16%)
• ORCL $141.50 (-1.61%)
• SOUN $6.90 (-3.63%) ⚠️
• IONQ $40.66 (-6.23%) ⚠️
• BBAI $3.09 (-2.68%)
• AVGO $363.11 (+0.17%)
• CRM $207.27 (+0.57%)
• ADBE $272.80 (+0.12%)
• IBM $236.48 (-0.29%)
• SNOW $320.24 (-1.47%)
• MDB $422.73 (-4.04%) ⚠️
• NET $282.74 (-3.13%) ⚠️
• CRWD $193.86 (-3.85%) ⚠️
• TSM $415.10 (+0.73%)
• ASML $1,754.57 (+0.16%)
News:
• Treasury's Bessent said buybacks of long-dated debt will get bigger — possibly north of $4B per issue — but the rally faded fast. The 10-year is back up 5bps to 4.70%, the 30-year up 6bps to 5.25%.
• Brent topped $93 as the administration threatened "economic D-Day" over the Strait of Hormuz. Bitcoin cleared $70K for the first time since June, torching roughly $1B in shorts.
• IPO watch: OpenAI is telling staff a listing may slip to 2027 after SpaceX's rough debut. Anthropic still reportedly tracking a late-2026 debut off its $965B private mark. Neither trades yet.