Hungary's prime minister says the Paks nuclear power plant will avoid shutdown as Danube river levels are expected to remain sufficiently high.

US open: Dow +0.3%, S&P 500 +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.3%. Moderna (MRNA.O) surged 90% after Merck (MRK.N) reported Phase III success for an mRNA cancer vaccine, describing a historic breakthrough in melanoma treatment; Merck rose 8.4%. Marvell (MRVL.O) climbed 9.7% after issuing warrants to Google to buy up to 58.97 mln shares. SK Hynix (SKHY.O) advanced 4.2% after announcing plans to repurchase and cancel KRW 40 trillion of shares.

US MBA mortgage application index for week ending Aug 14: 247.7, prior 248.6.