Market snapshot · September 18, 2026 close
S&P 500 (SPY) $761.69 −0.13% Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) $721.45 +0.60% Dow (DIA) $515.88 −0.48% Russell 2000 (IWM) $284.10 −0.52% 10-Year Treasury (IEF) $90.80 −0.49% Crude Oil (USO) $153.82 −0.93% Gold (GLD) $401.17 +0.74% US Dollar Index (UUP) $28.39 −0.02% Volatility (VXX) $17.76 +0.31% Semiconductors (SMH) $573.00 +2.17% Silver (SLV) $59.93 +1.65% Emerging Markets (EEM) $67.03 +0.19% Bitcoin (BTC) $81,055.00 +4.51% Ethereum (ETH) $2,630.20 +5.92% S&P 500 (SPY) $761.69 −0.13% Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) $721.45 +0.60% Dow (DIA) $515.88 −0.48% Russell 2000 (IWM) $284.10 −0.52% 10-Year Treasury (IEF) $90.80 −0.49% Crude Oil (USO) $153.82 −0.93% Gold (GLD) $401.17 +0.74% US Dollar Index (UUP) $28.39 −0.02% Volatility (VXX) $17.76 +0.31% Semiconductors (SMH) $573.00 +2.17% Silver (SLV) $59.93 +1.65% Emerging Markets (EEM) $67.03 +0.19% Bitcoin (BTC) $81,055.00 +4.51% Ethereum (ETH) $2,630.20 +5.92%
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Market Wrap · August 13, 2026

SanDisk and Micron Rip Higher, Netflix Jumps on an Ackman Bet, as the Nasdaq-100 Gains 1.16%

August 13, 2026 · Indices, SanDisk (SNDK), Micron (MU), Netflix (NFLX), SpaceX (SPCX)

U.S. equities rose Thursday, August 13, led by a sharp rebound in memory-chip and storage names. The S&P 500 (SPY) rose 0.70% to $777.88, the Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) rose 1.16% to $732.07, and the Dow (DIA) added a modest 0.14% to $537.91, while the Russell 2000 (IWM) rose 0.26%. The move higher in equities ran opposite to commodities: gold (GLD) fell 1.47%, silver (SLV) fell 1.52%, and crude oil (USO) fell 1.78%.

The session's biggest single mover was SanDisk, up 13.67% to $1,528.11, with Micron rising alongside it, up 4.23% to $949.83 — both holdings here. The move followed at least two Motley Fool pieces published Thursday arguing the memory sector's recent selloff (SanDisk down as much as 45% and Micron down roughly 25% from their 2026 highs, on concerns about future memory-chip pricing and a broader rotation out of the group) was overdone given a severe, AI-buildout-driven memory shortage. Both articles cited Wall Street projections of steep FY2027 revenue growth — roughly 140% for SanDisk and 85% for Micron — with new production capacity not expected online until late 2027 or 2028.

Netflix rose 5.43% to $78.24 after The Motley Fool reported that Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management deployed 85% of a recent $5 billion capital raise into six stocks, including Netflix, alongside Visa, Mastercard, S&P Global, Intercontinental Exchange, and Alcon. Per the report, Ackman's stated rationale is that Netflix holds a durable streaming-wars moat that can absorb ongoing concerns about AI-driven disruption to media businesses.

Elsewhere on the tape

Datadog rose 4.70% to $252.24, extending a run of large swings this site has repeatedly found no company-specific dated news to explain. Cheesecake Factory fell 4.61% to $111.88, also with no dated news found. SpaceX fell 3.33% to $141.29 the same day a Motley Fool piece revisited short-seller skepticism on the name — citing negative six-month free cash flow of roughly $25 billion, AI revenue concentrated in a single cancellable customer contract, declining Starlink ARPU, and the second insider share-unlock scheduled for August 21. Nebius fell 1.60% to $255.04, with the leveraged NBIL ETF down 3.41% in kind. On the watchlist, Palantir rose 4.66%, Salesforce rose 4.16%, Super Micro rose 4.12%, and Coinbase rose 3.26%, with no ticker-specific dated news found tying any of the four moves to Thursday specifically.

Sources: The Motley Fool, The Motley Fool, The Motley Fool, The Motley Fool. Price data via Massive Market Data. This article is educational and reflects my own analysis; it is not investment advice.