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The Fast Five → Nvidia, AMD, Micron lead chip stocks selloff, Wall Street sees no end in sight to global bond selloff, Unitree pops 542% in Shanghai debut, AI optimism fades among young adults, and Wall Street may have found its party pooper…
📌 On May 21, a federal bank voted unanimously to lend nearly $3 billion to one small American gold miner, and final papers are expected in the second half of this year. The company is about 1/50th the size of Newmont.
Get the name before the ink dries >>
(from Behind The Markets)
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Today:
FOMC Meeting Minutes, 2:00P
Tomorrow:
Unemployment Claims, 8:30A
Your 5-minute briefing for Wednesday, August 19:
BEFORE THE OPEN
As of market close 8/18/2026.
Pre-Market:
Market Wrap:
Futures: Dow +46 (+0.09%), S&P -0.1%, Nasdaq -0.2%
Tue: Dow -116 (-0.2%), S&P -0.7%, Nasdaq -1.3%
Stocks fell for a third straight session
Global bond rout pressured tech stocks
30-year Treasury yield hit a 19-year high
Strong earnings are helping cushion higher yields
Focus shifts to Fed minutes and retail earnings
EARNINGS
Here’s what we’re watching this week:
Today: Coty $COTY ( ▲ 2.62% ), *Estee Lauder $EL ( ▼ 0.08% ), *Lowe's $LOW ( ▼ 0.08% ), *Target $TGT ( ▲ 0.97% )
THU: *Alibaba $BABA ( ▲ 2.76% ), Ross Stores $ROST ( ▲ 0.47% )
*Walmart $WMT ( ▲ 0.76% ) - $.74 EPS (+8.8% YoY) on $186.9B revenue (+6.3% YoY)
The Department of War Is on a
Gold Mine's Filings
On May 21, 2026, the board of a federal bank voted unanimously to lend nearly $3 billion to build a gold mine on American soil. Congress got 25 days notice. Nobody objected.
Final papers are expected in the second half of this year. The day that ink dries, three things happen at once: funding risk goes to zero, the U.S. government becomes financially fused to the project, and Wall Street re-rates the stock from speculative developer to federally backed strategic asset.
One more detail. The company's own filings cite "substantial support and partnership from the Department of War," a phrase we've never seen on a gold project. The reason: alongside its gold, the deposit holds a metal China formally banned from export to the United States. The only domestic reserve in the country.
The company is about one-fiftieth the size of Newmont.
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HEADLINES
With yields on 30-year US Treasurys at 19-year highs, investors predict a new era in the bond market. And it looks a lot like 2007.
Mark Walter is selling assets quickly to unwind a dragon’s nest of interlocking loans and resolve a Justice Department investigation.
Nvidia, AMD, Micron lead chip stocks selloff, Iran tensions rattle markets (more)
The bond market is daring the Fed to hike (more)
Trump says no talks scheduled with Iran as he teases action in Hormuz (more)
Trump pauses 50% scheduled tariffs on Canada for three days (more)
As US debt mounts, investors demand higher returns to lend (more)
SEC sues former executives of collapsed auto lender Tricolor (more)
US single-family housing starts slide in July (more)
AI optimism fades among young adults (more)
US advisory body says China's data dominance gives it AI advantage (more)
China’s backflipping robot maker Unitree pops 542% in Shanghai debut (more)
Home Depot reaffirms guidance amid 'frozen housing market conditions' (more)
Meta faces 29-state trial that could reshape Instagram and Facebook (more)
Disney-owned ABC files First Amendment lawsuit against FCC (more)
OpenAI unveils ChatGPT for teens with stronger guardrails (more)
As retail stagnates, ad dollars help Walmart stay the course (more)
Klarna cuts revenue guidance and is searching for new CFO (more)
- We’re on a Short Break -
Dealflow, Crypto, and Bullish sections
will resume on Monday, August 24, 2026.
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