S&P 500 Rises 0.43% on 21 August 2026 as Goldman Sachs Delivers 43% of the Dow's Gain

S&P 500 close: 7,674.37 (+0.43%) Breadth: 8 of 11 sectors higher Sentiment: mixed

The S&P 500 closed at 7,674.37 on 21 August 2026, up 33.21 points or 0.43%, recovering part of Thursday's 0.87% fall as brokers and metals producers rose and utilities fell 2.28%. GS.US gained 3.73% to $1,039.28 and delivered roughly 225 of the Dow's 517.80 point advance on its own, about 43% of the move, with industrywide prime-brokerage revenue at a record $22.5bn for the first half of 2026. HOOD.US rose 13.70% to $108.13 as bitcoin gained 7.48% to $78,164 and closed its best week in two years.

What moved the index

• Financials: XLF +0.93%, roughly 13 bps of the 43 bps index gain. Trading and brokerage names led while lenders sat out: IBKR.US +4.47%, GS.US +3.73%, MS.US +3.25% and SCHW.US +2.29%, against JPM.US +0.01%, WFC.US +0.17% and BAC.US -0.27%.
• Health care: XLV +1.29%, roughly 13 bps. MRNA.US +8.86% to $145.13 recovered part of Thursday's 23.55% fall, and Phase 3 melanoma partner MRK.US +2.39% to $152.55 added about 21 points to the Dow.
• Consumer discretionary: XLY +1.15%, roughly 13 bps. TSLA.US +5.14% to $362.86 after Nevada regulators granted robotaxi permits covering 5,000 Tesla vehicles, 1,000 for Uber and 1,000 for Waymo, and Swedish logistics operator Einride ordered 500 Class 8 Semis.
• Utilities: XLU -2.28%, the weakest sector and roughly 5 bps of drag. Morgan Stanley reset price targets across the group on Friday, cutting EIX.US to $65 from $69 and SRE.US to $104 from $108. SRE.US -5.14%, EIX.US -4.11%, AEP.US -3.79% and CNP.US -3.56%.

Those four net roughly 34 bps of the index's 43 bps gain, with materials, communication services and staples covering the rest. Technology contributed about 4 bps on a 34% index weight: XLK +0.11%, SMH -0.40%, NVDA.US -0.98%. That near-zero technology contribution is why the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both stopped at 0.43% while the Dow ran 0.98%.

Session highlights

• Bitcoin +7.48% to $78,164, a 22% weekly gain and its strongest week in two years. Bernstein tied the move to the Treasury plan announced on Wednesday to at least double long-dated buyback operations from $2bn to $4bn, running from 9 September to 4 November across the 10-year to 30-year sector.
• Long yields rose anyway. The 10-year settled at 4.738% and the 30-year at 5.276%, each up about 4 basis points, so the buyback plan lifted crypto and brokerage equities without pulling the long end down.
• S&P Global's August flash PMIs beat on the services side: composite 56.0 against 54.5 in July, services 56.8 against a 54.0 forecast, manufacturing 53.2 against 53.9.
• VIX -5.50% to 15.13 and the Russell 2000 +0.85% to 3,017.87, both firmer than the S&P 500.
• All three indices still finished the week lower: S&P 500 -1.4%, Dow -0.8%, Nasdaq -2%.

Sector scorecard

• XLB +2.14% led on a critical-minerals and precious-metals bid: SCCO.US +8.69%, MP.US +9.10%, USAR.US +12.57% and GLD +1.95%.
• XLV +1.29%, XLY +1.15%, XLF +0.93%, XLP +0.79% and XLC +0.65% followed.
• XLI +0.27% and XLK +0.11% lagged. PWR.US -3.49% held industrials back and MRVL.US -5.57% weighed on semiconductors, SMH -0.40%.
• XLRE unchanged, XLE -0.17% and XLU -2.28% were the two sectors lower.

Top movers

• TMC.US +20.65% to $4.79 and EMAT.US +19.22% to $3.97 were the two largest gainers above a $2bn market cap, both critical-minerals names. Unannounced, likely flow-driven.
• UEC.US +14.44% to $12.76 headed a uranium move that also took DNN.US +11.46% and UUUU.US +8.92%.
• IQMX.US +14.77% to $11.11 and RGTI.US +11.48% to $17.91 extended a quantum-computing bid with no company announcement attached.
• HUT.US -8.79% to $80.86, CIFR.US -8.40% to $15.77 and RIOT.US -5.48% to $19.83 fell while bitcoin rose 7.48%. All three now sell AI data-centre capacity, and Friday's losses ranked in the same order as their 2026 gains, a position unwind rather than a change in contract economics. APLD.US -5.03%, WULF.US -4.92% and CLSK.US -4.92% moved with them.
• BABA.US -8.57% to $119.34 after adjusted earnings per ADS fell 42% to $1.26 against a $1.85 estimate. Capital spending of RMB 67.7bn ran at 25% of revenue and outpaced new cloud revenue by 4.5 times, even as cloud revenue grew 45% and group revenue rose 9% to $39.64bn.
• SA.US -9.35% to $30.16 was the single largest decline above $2bn, against GLD +1.95%.

Earnings reactions

• ROST.US +4.39% to $239.04 on second-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.06 per share against a $1.95 estimate, revenue of $6.26bn against $6.16bn, and raised full-year guidance. The report landed after Thursday's close, so Friday's cash session was the first full reaction.
• BJ.US +5.61% to $96.42 on second-quarter earnings of $1.36 per share against a $1.17 consensus, reported before Friday's open.
• OSIS.US -5.21% to $206.73 on a revenue miss and a cut to guidance.
• No US large-cap reported after Friday's closing bell. The two names on the after-hours calendar were NIBE Industrier of Stockholm and SharonAI. The next after-hours event of size is NVDA.US on Wednesday.

Next session catalysts (ET)

• Wed 26 Aug, after the close NVDA.US second-quarter fiscal 2027 results, call from 5:00pm ET, with consensus revenue near $93bn to $95bn or roughly 67% above the year-ago quarter
• Thu 27 to Sat 29 Aug Jackson Hole symposium, with Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivering his first keynote on Friday 28 August, historically around 10:00am ET
• Futures after the cash close ES=F +0.33% at 7,687.75 and NQ=F +0.25% at 29,374

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