St. Louis Fed Financial Stress Index rose to -0.81 in the week ended Aug 21 from -0.83 the prior week. (0 = normal; below 0 indicates below‑average financial stress.)

Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh said a Q2 earnings beat for NVIDIA (NVDA.O) is largely priced in and the market will focus on guidance for AI capital spending and next‑year AI revenue. He models adjusted EPS of $2.08 and revenue of $92.0 bln but expects actuals to be materially higher, and he retains an Outperform rating with a $300 PT. Rakesh called Wall Street's $550 bln next‑year AI revenue estimate conservative, saying NVIDIA's recent financing with a Wall Street consortium and SpaceX's plan for an ~10 GW solar plant in Austin could together add an incremental $400–500 bln of AI revenue.

EIA: U.S. refinery utilization rose last week to the highest level since September 2018.