Market Minute ⏱️ 8/19/26: Bonds Rip on Buyback, While Merck & Moderna Surge

Mike Larson | Editor-in-Chief

Bonds are ripping higher in price, dragging stocks, gold, and silver along with them. Crude oil is flat, while the dollar is dropping.

With bond yields surging worldwide - and hitting 19-year highs in the US - the Treasury Department is springing into action. It announced that it will "at least double" the amount of 10-year and 30-year Treasuries it will buy back. The move "reflects Treasury's desire to provide greater liquidity support in longer-dated nominal sectors." Translation: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pushing back against markets, which had been driving long-term yields higher.

Could postoperative melanoma patients soon have another treatment option to keep skin cancer from coming back? Merck & Co. (MRK) and Moderna Inc. (MRNA) said a combination of a personalized vaccine called intismeran and the immunotherapy Keytruda helped extend recurrence timelines for high-risk patients.

The news helped validate mRNA therapies, which are customized treatments based on an individual’s specific needs. Moderna was a big player in the Covid-19 vaccine space, but it has struggled since then as demand tailed off. Moderna stock surged 82% on the news, while Merck stock rose 7%. Additional details on the study will be released later in 2026.

MRK (Red), MRNA (Green) – YTD % Change

Not long after raising $26.5 billion in a US stock offering, South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. (SKHY) said it will buy back $29 billion of its domestic shares. The move follows a sharp drop in semiconductor stocks globally, with SK stock losing about 50% of its value in the last two months. SK also said it would return more than 50% of free cash flow to shareholders through 2027 through additional share repurchases and dividends

One day after Home Depot Inc. (HD) topped estimates, Lowe’s Cos. (LOW) missed sales targets and warned of “pressure” on do-it-yourself home improvement spending. Same store sales rose just 0.2% in the fiscal second quarter, and the company lowered its full-year revenue guidance to $92 billion from a previous range of $92 billion to $94 billion. Lowe’s stock dipped 3%; it entered the session down 10.5% year-to-date.

Alhajji: Why and How THIS Threat is Keeping Oil Prices Elevated

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• Housing: Starts Stumble as Affordability Crisis Rolls On
  👉️ TICKERS: ITB, XHB
  Housing starts in July came in well below expectations, as single family starts dropped a sharp 89,000 month-over-month to just 808,000. That is the least amount of starts since late 2022. The figure reflects the affordability challenges we’re all well aware of, suggests Peter Boockvar, editor of The Boock Report.

• PBP: How Covered Call ETFs Have Changed Since the Fund Hit the Market
  👉️ TICKERS: SPX, PBP
  As of mid-August, the ETF Central Screener lists 5,599 ETFs. Of those, approximately 950, or 17% of the entire universe, are classified as options-based strategies. Many of these products can trace their lineage back to the first covered call ETF to enter the US market: the Invesco S&P 500 BuyWrite ETF (PBP), notes Tony Dong, lead ETF analyst at ETF Central.

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🍟 📈 Red Robin Stock Is in the Middle of a Tasty Turnaround You Don’t Want to Miss. (Barchart)