News ahead of the U.S. market open on August 19

Stock Market News

19 August 2026, 17:58

Donald Trump delayed the imposition of 50% tariffs on Canadian goods by three days, saying the sides had reached a preliminary agreement, Bloomberg reported. The White House said Canada had expressed willingness to eliminate discriminatory measures against U.S. automobiles, dairy products and alcoholic beverages, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative mentioned broad market access and alignment of rules in digital trade.

Eurozone inflation rose to 2.9% in July from 2.8% in June 2026, according to Eurostat, in line with forecasts. The consumer price index in July 2026 increased by 0.20% versus the previous month, as expected.

Moderna Inc and Merck said their combination treatment for melanoma delivered better results than Keytruda monotherapy in a Phase III clinical trial, CNBC reported. The INTerpath-001 study tested the efficacy of intismeran in combination with Keytruda in patients with completely resected stage IIB–IV melanoma. The trial met its primary endpoint (recurrence-free survival) and a key secondary endpoint (distant metastasis-free survival).

Samsung Electronics raised prices for certain contract chipmaking services on new orders by 15%, Reuters reported, citing informed sources. Demand from Chinese customers was particularly high, but Samsung was unable to fulfill all orders because it must serve U.S. customers and reserve part of its manufacturing capacity for its own chip production.

Amazon plans to expand its drone delivery service to suburban areas of nearly 500 U.S. cities, potentially enabling small, lightweight packages to be delivered to millions more customers by the end of 2026, Bloomberg reported.

OpenAI’s revenue rose 18% in Q2, but losses increased even more, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. OpenAI told investors that revenue for the three months ended in June reached $6.7 billion, compared with $5.7 billion in Q1. Overall, the company had been expected to show faster progress than Anthropic.

Nebius Group (NBIS) said it intends to place convertible senior notes with a total initial principal amount of $4.50 billion, Bloomberg reported. Proceeds will be used to fund the company’s growth, including building data centers and developing AI-based cloud solutions.

SK Hynix (NASDAQ:SKHY) said its board had approved a share buyback of up to 40 trillion won ($28.3 billion), Bloomberg reported. In a filing to the Korea Exchange, SK Hynix said the program will begin on August 20 and run for about three months. The company will repurchase more than 24 million of its own shares.

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