Wall Street's Hot Streak Is Running Into A Midterm-Year Curse

🏭 SKHY Stock Jumps 6% In Pre-market Trading On $29 Billion Buyback Plan

SK Hynix Inc.’s U.S.-listed ADR (NASDAQ: SKHY) rose 5.56% in pre-market trading on Wednesday after the South Korean memory chipmaker announced plans to buy back and cancel 40 trillion won ($29 billion) worth of its treasury shares.

SKHY’s pre-market rebound follows a 9.2% decline on Tuesday amid a broader Wall Street tech selloff. Its primary South Korean listing also fell 9.75% in Seoul trading on Wednesday.

The stock, however, recovered 7% in after-hours trading, according to The Chosun Daily. Benzinga reports.

🧠 Sandisk Targets 80% Margins Amid AI Storage Boom

Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) is betting that surging artificial intelligence demand and a new contract-based sales model can make the notoriously cyclical NAND memory business more predictable.

At its 2026 Investor Day, Sandisk outlined a fiscal 2028 through fiscal 2030 model targeting mid-to-high-teens revenue growth. The company also expects a non-GAAP gross margin of about 80%, a non-GAAP operating margin of nearly 75%, and an adjusted free cash flow margin of roughly 50%.

Counterpoint Research analyst Neil Shah said the strategy could reshape Sandisk’s business as AI shifts more NAND demand toward higher-value enterprise storage. Benzinga reports.

📺 FreeCast To Relaunch The Investor News Channel As A Next-Generation Global Business And Financial FAST Network; Stock Roars In Pre-market

FreeCast, Inc. (Nasdaq: CAST), a streaming media technology company providing Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), content aggregation, advertising, and digital distribution solutions, announced that it has acquired full control of Investor News Channel and plans to relaunch the former global video-on-demand financial news service as a next-generation, 24/7 global Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) network.

The newly envisioned Investor News Channel (INC) is targeted to launch in November 2026, transforming the existing financial media property into a broader global destination for investors, entrepreneurs, executives, and business-minded audiences.

Rather than attempting to replicate traditional minute-by-minute financial television, Investor News Channel is being designed around the stories behind companies, CEO and founder interviews, corporate documentaries, public-company profiles, analyst and investment commentary, business and legal programming, entrepreneurship, emerging technologies, economic trends, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, investor education, and global business opportunities. BusinessWire reports.

🤝 Eshallgo Inc. Enters Into Exclusive Partnership With Zhongshan Senwei; Stock Up 19% In Pre-market

Eshallgo Inc. (NASDAQ: EHGO), a leading integrated office solutions provider in China, announced the launch of its second major international partnership initiative. Building on its established position in China’s office solutions, IT innovation, and commercial printing sectors, the company continues to expand its global business development efforts following the progress of its first global IT partnership with Maxsun.

EShallGo USA, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Eshallgo, has entered into an exclusive strategic cooperation agreement with Zhongshan Senwei Office Supplies Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of compatible color printing consumables.

The partnership expands Eshallgo’s international business development efforts and represents another step in the company’s strategy to bring high-quality Chinese office technology products to overseas markets. GlobeNewswire reports.

🤖 Baidu Posts Fifth Consecutive Revenue Drop As AI Bet Sputters

Chinese search giant Baidu posted its fifth consecutive quarterly revenue decline on Tuesday, sending its stock lower as the company continues to spend heavily to keep pace with domestic AI rivals.

Baidu is pivoting to become an “AI-first company,” according to its CEO, while tripling quarterly capital expenditures as it invests heavily in computing infrastructure. However, the company faces pressure on multiple fronts, including declining advertising market share to ByteDance and Alibaba, only partly offset by growth in its cloud business. Its Ernie AI model also faces strong competition from open-weight offerings developed by firms such as Moonshot and DeepSeek.

While Baidu’s results reflect broader investor concerns over heavy AI spending, Bank of America said Nvidia’s stock could be trading at a discount of as much as 50%, arguing that investors may be overstating the risks associated with the U.S. chipmaker’s AI investments. Yahoo Finance reports.

(All pricing and percent gains are based on Early Pre-Market from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM ET). Stock Analysis reports.

1) RDAC: Rising Dragon Acquisition Corp.

Total gain: +10.20 (174.36%)

2) TNON: Tenon Medical, Inc.

Total gain: +5.84 (107.16%)

3) MRNA: Moderna, Inc.

Total gain: +38.79 (61.61%)

4) BIVI: BioVie Inc.

Total gain: +0.546 (56.57%)

5) ZNB: Zeta Network Group

Total gain: +1.010 (45.29%)

The closing price of the top three market percent gainers trading near or above $3 on Aug 18.

(All pricing and percent gains are based on regular market trading hours from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET)
Stock Analysis reports.

1) CAST: FreeCast, Inc.

Total gain: +1.240 (144.24%)

The company announced that it plans to relaunch Investor News Channel as a 24/7 global FAST network in November 2026. The company has gained full control of InvestorNewsChannel.com and plans to turn the former on-demand service into a wider business and finance channel. The network will focus on investors, business leaders and other viewers who follow the global economy. TipRanks reports.

2) IPST: IP Strategy Holdings, Inc.

Total gain: +8.37 (113.26%)

The stock appeared to be moving on no notable news.

3) XOS: Xos, Inc.

Total gain: +2.350 (112.44%)

The company today announced that it has been awarded a prototype Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) by the United States Air Force to develop and deliver a deployable mobile charging solution for electrified support equipment and vehicles. The award, made through the Air Force Global Strike Command Rapid Capabilities Division 2026 Showcase, marks Xos's entry into the defense market and reflects the growing cross-sector demand for the Company's mobile energy storage platform across commercial fleets, ports, municipalities, and now national defense. GlobeNewswire reports.

(Estimate and Actual numbers represent Earnings Per Share in US Dollars)

WB
Weibo

Q2 2026

Before Market Open

Estimate: 0.360
Actual: 0.380

YMM
Full Truck Alliance Co

Q2 2026

Before Market Open

Estimate: 0.180

Actual: 0.200

SQM
Sociedad Quimica

Y Minera

Q2 2026

Before Market Open
Estimate: 2.040
Actual: 2.310

Time (ET) / Report / Period

• 2:00 PM / Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes published

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