Stocks Bounce at End of Wild Week as Bitcoin Jumps: Markets Wrap

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August 21, 2026 - 18:03

5 minutes

(Bloomberg) — The final stretch of a jittery week on Wall Street saw stocks rising amid solid economic data, with traders weighing the outlook for Treasuries after a burst of volatility.Most shares in the S&P 500 gained as US business activity grew at its fastest pace in more than four years. The Nasdaq 100 snapped a five-day drop in the countdown to Nvidia Corp.’s results on Wednesday. Bitcoin topped $77,000, heading toward its biggest weekly rally since 2023. Long-dated Treasuries edged lower Friday, but were set to end the week little changed.Investors are assessing the fallout from a recent spike in bond yields that was fueled by worries about inflation and spendthrift governments, prompting the US to intervene to curb longer-term borrowing costs. They are now awaiting a promised new initiative from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent aimed at fiscal consolidation.“We suspect long-dated Treasury yields will stabilize over the next few weeks as some calm is restored following the recent bout of volatility in global sovereign bond markets,” said Joe Maher at Capital Economics.The extent of this week’s equity decline was modest, but some signals cannot be ignored, according to Mark Hackett at Nationwide. The drop was driven by concern over debt issuance and rates, frustration over stalled progress in talks with Iran and skepticism on the artificial-intelligence buildout.“None of these are new, but given the elevated expectations and positioning of investors, the bar for positive surprises has risen, and the sensitivity to the wall of worry has intensified,” he said.“We don’t currently see bond market turbulence as a reason to reduce equity market exposure,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Chief Investment Office. “It does, however, reinforce the case for diversified equity exposure across sectors and regions, with a balance of cyclical, tech, and defensive stocks.”A failure in the Treasury’s plan to tame long-term bond yields would pressure the dollar and spur short bets against riskier assets in the lead-up to November midterm elections, according to Bank of America Corp. strategist Michael Hartnett.If Bessent “can’t drag 30-year yield below 5%,” Hartnett said he foresees a dollar slump and increased short bets against leverage such as AI hyperscalers and private credit, among other risk assets, in the coming weeks. Financials also face the prospect of short selling if the plan doesn’t work, he said.The Treasury Secretary’s efforts to keep down the long-end of the yield curve may not have been quite as effective as he hoped, although they do provide a clear signaling mechanism, according to Stephen Brown at Capital Economics. He’ll presumably be hoping that Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh “doesn’t undo his work during his Jackson Hole speech next week,” Brown added.Elsewhere, oil fluctuated, but remained on track for a weekly gain as traders awaited details of a US campaign to isolate the Iranian economy, with no apparent end in sight to a conflict that has slashed Middle East exports. Iran’s president urged an end to the war, in his latest pushback against hardliners.Corporate Highlights:Ken Griffin’s Citadel offloaded more than $4 billion of bets that it snagged when the firm bought a stock portfolio from embattled AI hedge fund Situational Awareness. Anthropic PBC is set to add Citigroup Inc. to the banks working on its initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter, as Wall Street jostles for roles on the artificial intelligence firm’s debut. Broadcom Inc. is in talks with a group of lenders to raise more than $60 billion in debt for an AI chip financing deal that will benefit Anthropic PBC and other companies, according to people with knowledge of the matter. DeepSeek unveiled an experimental AI model that can understand visual prompts, saying the tool nears the performance of an advanced model by Anthropic PBC. Some of the main moves in markets:StocksThe S&P 500 rose 0.6% as of 12:02 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5% The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6% The MSCI World Index rose 0.6% CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro was little changed at $1.1683 The British pound was little changed at $1.3643 The Japanese yen was little changed at 158.94 per dollar CryptocurrenciesBitcoin rose 6.2% to $77,133.2 Ether rose 3.2% to $2,391.11 BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 4.73% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.26% Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 5.06% The yield on 2-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 4.24% The yield on 30-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 5.27% CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold rose 2.2% to $4,614.95 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.