Ceasefire Lapse Lifts Yields, Hits Mega-Cap Stocks

A 60-day ceasefire expired unresolved on August 18, 2026, lifting oil prices and Treasury yields (the interest rate the U.S. pays to borrow). Higher yields slammed mega-cap growth stocks — Meta fell 3.5%, Microsoft 3.0%, per Saxo — and chip stocks dropped sharply. The move revived Federal Reserve rate-hike worries, overriding earlier disinflationary signals from soft labor data.