Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq snap 3-day losing streak as bonds rally, Moderna skyrockets

Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq snap 3-day losing streak as bonds rally, Moderna skyrockets Grace O'Donnell · Editor, Special Projects Updated Wed, August 19, 2026 at 10:02 PM GMT+2 2 min read ^TNX US stocks rose on Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak, after the US Treasury Department said it would increase its buybacks of long-dated government debt, leading yields to pull back sharply. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) and the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) both gained 0. 2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) also roughly put on 0.

2%. In individual stocks, Moderna ( MRNA ) shares surged 176% after the company reported positive results from its late-stage trial of a melanoma vaccine developed with Merck ( MRK ). Stocks gained momentum after Treasury yields eased from their highest levels in years.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, rallied after the US Treasury Department said it would increase buybacks of long-dated government debt "by at least double" for securities from the 10-year to 30-year sector. The 10-year yield ( ^TNX ) fell by 5 basis points to 4. 65%, while the 30-year yield ( ^TYX ) declined by 9 basis points to 5.

19% after hitting its highest level since 2007 earlier this week. Investors also watched the trade front after Trump posted on Truth Social late Tuesday night that he paused the 50% Canadian tariffs for three days "based on the fact that Canada and the U. S.

A. , subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL! " The announcement came after 11th-hour talks between Trump officials and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's team.

While experts have said the tariffs would have had limited economic ramifications, they represent a strong signal of upcoming negotiations for the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA). Fed meeting minutes released on Wednesday afternoon, meanwhile, showed several Federal Open Market Committee members favored raising interest rates at the central bank's policy meeting last month and said that raising rates may be necessary if inflation doesn’t come down soon. LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER 14 updates Wed, August 19, 2026 at 8:07 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell Stocks snap losing streak as bond yields ease pressure, Moderna stock soars 176% Stocks closed in the green on Wednesday after a Treasury intervention in the bond market spurred a pullback in bond yields, easing pressure on equities.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ), S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ), and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) all rose by about 0. 2%. All three major indexes posted their first gains of the week.

Tech stocks continued to drag, with AI-related hardware and semiconductor names leading to the downside. But that was offset by strength in the healthcare and basic materials sectors. Gold miner stocks jumped during Wednesday’s session, while Moderna’s whopping 176% gain lifted other healthcare stocks.

The move Wednesday put Moderna stock at its highest level since 2023. Wed, August 19, 2026 at 7:02 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell Several Fed officials wanted to raise rates last month. If inflation doesn't come down, more of them see hikes.

Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger reports: Several members of the Federal Reserve favored raising interest rates at the central bank's policy meeting last month, even as most supported holding rates steady, according to minutes from the meeting released Wednesday. Those who favored raising rates noted that price pressures appeared broad-based and thought rates should be higher to restrict the economy and bring down inflation. Three voting members of the Fed — Cleveland Fed president Beth Hammack, Dallas Fed president Lorie Logan, and Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari — dissented, preferring to raise rates by a quarter percentage point.

Since the meeting, other officials have spoken, including Kansas City Fed president Jeff Schmid, who also suggested that rates should be higher to rein in inflation. Read more. Wed, August 19, 2026 at 5:57 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell The Treasury Department just pushed down long-term US bond yields.

That could make Kevin Warsh's job harder. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s intervention on Wednesday to lower long-term government bond yields complicates the Federal Reserve’s job and may even force Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh to move to raise interest rates. Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger reports: US government bond yields are skidding after the Treasury said it would "at least double" the amount of 10-year, 20-year and 30-year Treasury bonds it buys back.

The operation will begin on Sept. 9 and remain effective through Nov. 4.

The move comes after the 30-year Treasury yield hit its highest level in 19 years earlier this week, amid investors' concerns over higher fiscal deficits, heavy AI borrowing, and higher inflation that has pushed up borrowing costs globally. That has implications for the central bank. During his press conference on July 29, Warsh repeatedly pointed to bond yields that had shot materially higher, suggesting that the Fed welcomed the higher yields as a way to raise borrowing costs and tighten policy through markets, rather than the Fed having to raise short-term rates itself.

The Fed raises or lowers its short-term interest rate to influence other bond yields, which in turn dictate borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. "Chairman Warsh is in a very uncomfortable position," Wilmington Trust senior bond portfolio manager Wil Stith told Yahoo Finance in an interview on Wednesday following Treasury's announcement. "The market was leaving with this notion that we don't necessarily have to see a hike in the Fed funds rate because the longer end of the bond market is doing the work for the Fed.

Read more. Wed, August 19, 2026 at 5:15 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell Moderna stock lifts healthcare sector on its way to a 2-year high Moderna’s ( MRNA ) eye-popping stock surge is lifting the healthcare stocks, leading the sector ( XLV ) to outperform its peers on Wednesday. Shares of the mRNA drug maker surged 140%, pushing the stock to its highest level in over two years.

The stock was on track to more than double after its melanoma vaccine, developed with Merck ( MRK ), showed positive results in a late-stage trial. Merck stock also jumped roughly 11% in afternoon trading. heat map showing Moderna lifts health care stocks Moderna, an S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite component, helped boost both indexes.

Wed, August 19, 2026 at 4:43 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell AI is dragging on hiring in certain industries, entry-level positions: Goldman Sachs Artificial intelligence adoption is leading to hiring headwinds in other developed markets, as well as the US, but the impacts vary by industry and worker, according to new research from Goldman Sachs. In a note published Wednesday, the Goldman Sachs economics research team found that industries with greater exposure to AI automation saw slower job openings growth, suggesting companies may be reevaluating their hiring plans in light of new AI tools. Goldman Sachs research note showing the effect of AI exposure on Indeed.

com job listings. In particular, employment in call centers, software publishing, management consulting, and advertising services has fallen below trend in developed markets, the researchers found. Additionally, the researchers found that AI-related employment headwinds are stronger for entry-level workers.

In the US, a 10% increase in AI exposure was associated with a roughly 0. 2 percentage point decline in annual headcount growth. This latest note follows up on research Goldman conducted in April that found that AI was leading to a loss of 16,000 net jobs per month over the past year.

“Overall, our analysis confirms that the conclusions from the US hold globally,” the Goldman researchers wrote on Wednesday. “AI-related hiring headwinds are clearly visible in official and unofficial employment data, but impacts are limited to a narrow set of industries and workers. ” Wed, August 19, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC Brooke DiPalma Lowe's CEO flags 'pressure' in DIY spending Lowe's ( LOW ) stock rose on Wednesday after the company reported an earnings beat but gave a more cautious outlook, citing "pressure" in do-it-yourself (DIY) consumer spending.

In the second quarter, Lowe's revenue came in at $26 billion, just below the $26. 1 billion the Street expected. Adjusted earnings per share, which included a $0.

11 benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds, came in at $4. 27, above the $4. 22 the Street predicted based on Bloomberg estimates.

"Our total home strategy is working," Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison told Yahoo Finance.  "This strategic framework has enabled us to drive five consecutive quarters of positive comps. … With the DIY under pressure, we still have been able to deliver.

" Poor weather during the Memorial Day weekend weighed on weather-sensitive outdoor and seasonal categories, as did competitors' use of tariff refunds to put up promotions on items like grills, patio, and live goods. Read more. Wed, August 19, 2026 at 2:55 PM UTC Jared Blikre Wall Street's hot streak is running into a midterm-year curse This year's rally is no longer just a megacap story.

Now the calendar is pushing back. Lately, the average stock has been doing quite well. The broader rally has helped push some of Wall Street's riskiest trades back to the top .

But BTIG technical strategist Jonathan Krinsky sees a tougher stretch of the calendar arriving right on schedule. "Looking at the average seasonal pattern of midterm election years since 1990, [the S&P 500 Equal-Weighted Index] has peaked on August 18 before a pretty rough stretch into mid-October," Krinsky wrote. Yahoo Finance ran the numbers independently, comparing returns in midterm election years with every other year since 1990.

The result is hard to miss. The index is up sharply in 2026, but midterm election years since 1990 have typically weakened from mid-August into October. · BTIG/Jonathan Krinksky, CMT, Yahoo Finance From Aug.

18 through Oct. 11, the equal-weight S&P 500, in purple, has averaged a 6% decline during midterm election years. In all other years, in green, its average return over the same stretch has been essentially flat.

Read more. Wed, August 19, 2026 at 1:33 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell Stocks rise as bond yields ease Stocks rose at the open as bond yields pulled back, putting the S&P 500 on track to snap a three-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ), S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ), and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) all gained 0.

4% at the open. A Treasury Department announcement that it would increase buybacks of long-dated government debt boosted bonds, easing pressure on markets. The 10-year yield ( ^TNX ) fell by 6 basis points to 4.

64%, while the 30-year yield ( ^TYX ) declined by 9 basis points to 5. 19% after hitting its highest level since 2007 earlier this week. Oil prices were little changed, with Brent crude futures ( BZ=F ) trading around $91 per barrel, while WTI crude ( CL=F ) traded near $84 per barrel.

Wed, August 19, 2026 at 1:07 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell Nvidia stock recovers as China eases H200 chip restrictions, BofA says shares look cheap Nvidia ( NVDA ) stock recovered after a downbeat trading session, after the Financial Times reported that China allowed small shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips into the country, as China looks to close the gap with the US on artificial intelligence. According to the report, TikTok owner ByteDance and Tencent ( TCEHY ) each received about 10,000 H200 processors in recent weeks. China had curbed H200 imports in order to promote its domestic chipmakers; however, regulators have started to ease some restrictions.

Also boosting the stock was a note from Bank of America calling Nvidia stock a “compelling opportunity” relative to its AI peers, as reported by Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi. BofA analyst Vivek Arya pointed out that Nvidia shares are trading at a roughly 40%-50% discount to AI compute peers on an enterprise value-to-free cash flow basis. Read more.

Wed, August 19, 2026 at 12:01 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell Moderna stock rockets higher on positive melanoma vaccine results Moderna ( MRNA ) stock skyrocketed by as much as 106% in premarket trading after the company’s melanoma cancer vaccine, developed with Merck ( MRK ), showed a positive outcome in a late-stage trial. Merck shares jumped 8% on the results. The trial showed that Moderna and Merck’s Phase 3 trial administering intismeran autogene with Keytruda met its primary goal of recurrence-free survival and secondary goal of distant metastasis-free survival in patients.

Moderna said this was the first positive Phase 3 results for mRNA-based cancer therapy. “These Phase 3 findings represent a pivotal moment for the field of cancer research,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a release. “For many years, the idea of creating an mRNA treatment designed specifically for an individual patient's cancer was aspirational.

We are now helping turn that vision into a reality. ” Wed, August 19, 2026 at 11:03 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell Target CEO 'encouraged' by turnaround traction as retailer delivers another big earnings beat Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi reports on Target's ( TGT ) latest quarterly win as it aims to reinvigorate growth after several years of disappointing results. After chopping prices and overhauling its merchandise department, retailer Target did its part for the second straight quarter to signal that its worst days in 2024 and 2025 are in the rearview mirror.

The retailer delivered another big earnings beat versus estimates. Sales increased in all merchandise departments, led by beauty and food. Store traffic increased.

The company even jacked up its full-year sales and profit outlooks. "We're encouraged," Target CEO Michael Fiddelke told Yahoo Finance in an interview. "We laid out a plan for the year that had a lot of change in it — more change to what we were selling and how we were going to sell it than in the last decade.

And a couple of quarters in, it's great to see a strong guest response to some of the places we're making changes. " "There's a lot of work still in front of us," Fiddelke added, "and the goal isn't a couple strong quarters. The goal is years of sustained top-line growth.

And so we'll turn the page on this one and get back to work. " Read the full breakdown of Target's latest results. AlphaSpace Target earnings card Wed, August 19, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell Meta social media addiction trial kicks off with major implications for company's future Meta ( META ) stock was poised to recover some losses ahead of the opening bell.

Shares of the social media company fell by over 4% on Tuesday as a trial about Facebook and Instagram’s practices surrounding young users kicked off. Witness testimony is expected to continue on Wednesday. Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley recaps what happened on day 1 of the trial: Attorneys representing four states argued that Meta ( META ) developed its products to hook young users on its platforms and harvested the data of children under 13 to its benefit in the latest social media addiction trial on Tuesday.

The case, which is being heard before District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland, involves the attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey and is a test case for a larger suit involving an additional 24 states. In her opening remarks, deputy attorney general for California Megan O'Neill painted a picture of a company that works to keep young users coming back to its apps, using features such as infinite scrolling, negatively impacting their mental health. She also alleged that the company knowingly harvested the information of children under the age of 13 without their parents' consent.

Read more. Wed, August 19, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell Good morning. Here's what's happening today.

Economic data: MBA mortgage applications, week ended Aug. 14 (+3. 6% previously); FOMC meeting minutes, July meeting Earnings calendar: Target ( TGT ), Lowe’s ( LOW ), The TJX Companies ( TJX ), Analog Devices ( ADI ), Estee Lauder ( EL ), Coty ( COTY ), Wolfspeed ( WOLF ) Catch up on some stories you might have missed overnight: SEC proposes new rules for crypto assets Bessent says the K-shaped economy is 'over.

' He may be onto something. Cerebras says latest offering is 'fastest AI accelerator in the industry' as it takes aim at Nvidia Nvidia H200 chips reach China in small shipments, FT reports World’s top humanoid robot maker surges in blockbuster market debut in China Wed, August 19, 2026 at 8:00 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell Trump pauses 50% tariffs on Canada In a last-minute pivot, President Trump paused the rollout of 50% US tariffs on Canadian goods less than 2 hours before were scheduled to take effect. “I have paused the 50% Tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.

S. A. , subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!

” Trump posted on Truth Social, hinting that the “great Keystone XL Pipeline” may have been a part of negotiations. The start date of the tariffs, which were drawn up in response to US claims about Canada’s discriminatory trade practices, particularly around  automobiles ,  alcohol , and  dairy  products, has been moved to “12:01 a. m.

eastern time on August 22, 2026,” according to a White House proclamation that followed Trump’s social media post. In the proclamation, Trump stated that he paused the tariffs because “Canada has expressed a commitment to remove the [trade] discriminations or unreasonable and unequal impositions at issue. ” As Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul previously reported , the new tariffs would have limited immediate macroeconomic effects.

Yet the negotiations this week could provide a major signal about the prospects for renewal of the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA).