Markets News, Aug. 17, 2026: US Stocks Start Week Lower, Oil Prices Rise; Memory Shares Outperform

Markets News, Aug. 17, 2026: US Stocks Start Week Lower, Oil Prices Rise; Memory Shares Outperform Aaron Rennie Mon, August 17, 2026 at 6:53 AM EDT 6 min read ^DJI ^GSPC ^IXIC WMT TGT The U.S. dollar index traded at its lowest level since early June on Monday. Credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images Major stock indexes closed lower across the board, while oil prices rose on pessimism a deal between the U.S. and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz would be reached soon. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, benchmark S&P 500, and tech-focused Nasdaq Composite finished Monday down a respective 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.3%. All indexes lost ground on Friday , though only the Dow finished the week lower, snapping a two-week winning streak. More from Yahoo Scout Stocks closed last week lower in part because the Census Bureau's reading of U.S. retail sales data declined 0.6% in July when economists expected a 0.1% rise. This week , investors will get further reads on how Americans are spending when major retailers—including Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT) and Home Depot (HD)—hand in quarterly results. Those results "may offer some insight into whether last week's soft consumer data was a one-off or possibly something more significant," Chris Larkin, E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley's Managing Director, Trading and Investing, said in written commentary. Crude oil futures rose Monday as a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the Middle Eastern nation would "be ready to make dec…