BlockBeats News, August 26th, a summary of key pre-market news on the US stock market:

1. NVIDIA is set to release its second-quarter earnings report after the US stock market closes on Wednesday. The company's performance is seen by the market as a crucial point to assess the overall AI trading trend. Wall Street expects NVIDIA's second-quarter revenue to exceed $92 billion, with market expectations for third-quarter revenue reaching around $103.7 billion. This earnings report and future performance guidance are expected to be significant catalysts for the next phase of the AI sector.

2. The US July PCE Price Index rose by 3.7% year-on-year, unchanged from the previous month, slightly below market expectations of a slight decrease to 3.6%. The US July Core PCE Price Index increased by 3.3% year-on-year, in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous value of 3.30%. Market pricing indicates a slight increase in market expectations for a Fed rate hike next month. Interest rate futures data show that after the PCE data was released, the market's probability of a Fed rate hike in September is around 42%, up from about 36% before the data was released.

3. A Reuters survey indicates that the S&P 500 Index is expected to reach 7,900 points by the end of 2026 (up from 7,620 points in the May survey). The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to reach 54,500 points by the end of 2026 (up from 52,500 points in the May survey).

4. With the US mid-term elections in 2026 entering a 10-week countdown, the Democratic Party is currently leading by about 6 percentage points in generic congressional polls. The market is beginning to assess the potential impact of their reclaiming control of Congress on the financial markets. Analysis suggests that if the Democratic Party gains control of Congress, the US may enter a "divided government" situation, where significant legislation could face long-term political gridlock.

5. Alibaba Group has announced the completion of an HK$80 billion new share placement, issuing 710 million new ordinary shares to non-US persons overseas at a price of HK$112.70 per share. Alibaba plans to use all net proceeds from the placement to strengthen its global AI deployment.

6. At the 2026 mid-year performance conference, MiniMax revealed that token consumption in July had increased 20 times compared to January, Q2 revenue grew by 81.8% compared to Q1, and August ARR further increased to over $800 million.

7. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to increase their supply of NVIDIA's 8-layer HBM4 memory in the second half of this year. This arrangement is mainly influenced by NVIDIA's supply strategy, aiming to ensure stable supply of various types of HBM memory while considering product heat dissipation. It is understood that the 8-layer memory is highly likely to become the flagship product of the next-generation HBM4E.

8. Approximately 81,700 Bitcoin options are set to expire on Friday at 16:00 Beijing time on Deribit, with a notional value of around $6.44 billion, potentially amplifying market volatility. Of these options, there are about 44,600 call options and 37,100 put options, resulting in a Put/Call ratio of 0.83, indicating an overall bullish sentiment. The most concentrated call options currently are at a strike price of $75,000 and $80,000, with respective outstanding notional values of around $2.36 billion and $1.57 billion.

9. Bank of America maintains a "Buy" rating on NVIDIA with a target price of $350. The bank anticipates that NVIDIA's second-quarter revenue and performance guidance may once again exceed market expectations by 3% to 4%, driven by Vera Rubin's production expansion. However, Bank of America believes that the earnings numbers are not the key focus of this earnings report. The bank suggests that the market should pay more attention to whether NVIDIA discloses multi-year off-balance sheet commitments to secure chip supply, power, AI models, and customer demand.