Opening Comment — Tuesday, August 18, 2026
DJIA: 53,459.78, down 272.63
S&P 500: 7,745.06, down 40.70
NASDAQ: 26,644.91, down 84.25
Stocks lower before slew of economic data
Stock futures are mostly lower Tuesday morning ahead of today’s economic releases, including industrial production, import price, and housing market data for July. As of 7:17 AM ET, the Dow is little changed, while the S&P 500 is down 0.4%. The Nasdaq 100 is falling 1.1% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were lower on Monday as the Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of New York’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey unexpectedly strengthened in August, with the headline general business conditions index surging to 20.6. Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Market Index rose to 35, defying expectations for a decline. The Dow was down 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3%. The S&P 500 decreased 0.5% with 10 of 11 sectors finishing in negative territory. The Energy sector was the top performer, rising 0.9%, while the Communication Services sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.5%.
On the data front, the New York Fed will release their Business Leaders Survey for August, with the headline business activity index expected to fall to 4.6 from the prior month’s 8.7. Import prices are expected to increase by 0.1% month-over-month (MOM) and 6.7% year-over-year (YOY) in July, versus the prior month’s increases of 0.3% and 7.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, export prices are expected to show little change MOM and increase by 9.7% YOY in July, versus the prior month’s decrease of 0.6% and increase of 10.2%, respectively. Housing starts are expected to have been an annualized 1.345 million in July versus the prior month’s 1.427 million. The preliminary reading of July building permits is expected to come in at an annualized 1.375 million versus the prior month’s 1.374 million. Industrial production is forecasted to have increased 0.3% MOM in July, compared to the prior month’s increase of 0.1%, while capacity utilization is projected to have risen to 76.3% from the prior month’s 76.1%. Pending home sales for July are expected to have registered little change MOM and increased 1.1% YOY, versus the prior month’s decrease of 5.4% and increase of 2.3%, respectively.
Across the pond, European stocks are mixed in mid-day trading as the U.K.’s three-month unemployment rate held steady at 4.9% in June and average weekly earnings growth eased to 4.1% YOY. Meanwhile, the country’s jobless claims fell by 11,000 and the claimant count rate eased to 4.3% in July. Separately, the ZEW measures of economic growth expectations for August increased significantly for both the eurozone and Germany, rising to 31.4 and 34.2, respectively, from 23.4 and 26.3 in the prior month.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly lower as Westpac’s Consumer Confidence Index for Australia increased by 6.0% MOM in August.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is little changed ahead of tomorrow’s release of the July 29 Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.4% higher at $84.86/barrel.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.4% lower at $4,397.89/ounce.