August 20, 2026
Bond Jitters Hit Stocks While Bitcoin Soars
US stocks logged their worst day in three weeks as worries over stubbornly high long-term interest costs and disappointing Walmart guidance weighed on sentiment, while Bitcoin surged above $72K in a massive short squeeze that pulled money toward riskier assets. Fed officials kept the door open for either rate cuts or hikes in September, leaving markets to juggle falling real yields, a softer dollar, and rising oil against a backdrop of slowly cooling inflation but still-easy financial conditions.