Morning read: Asia tech slides, NVIDIA locks Ohio AI campus

Macro overnight

U.S. equities finished Tuesday, August 18, 2026 lower, with the pressure concentrated in large-cap technology and semiconductors. On CNBC’s cash-index board, the S&P 500 closed at 7,691.76 (−0.69%), the Nasdaq Composite at 26,289.71 (−1.33%), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 53,343.40 (−0.22%). Official Cboe history shows the VIX settling at 15.84 that session after an opening print near 15.81, up from 15.19 on August 17.

Into early Wednesday trade, the tone stayed cautious. Timestamped Yahoo Finance futures snapshots around 4:00 a.m. ET showed E-mini S&P 500 near 7,718.50 (about −0.75% versus the chart’s prior reference close), Nasdaq-100 futures near 29,598.75 (−0.47%), and Dow mini-futures near 53,454 (−1.13%), while Russell 2000 futures were roughly flat to slightly higher. Those are delayed futures prints, not the cash open.

Asia did more of the heavy lifting overnight. CNBC’s completed-session board put the Nikkei 225 at 65,326.42 (−3.16%) and the Shanghai Composite at 3,894.422 (−2.40%), while the Hang Seng was little changed around 25,486.91 in the same capture window. Early Europe was quieter: the DAX and FTSE 100 were only fractionally lower, and the CAC 40 was modestly higher.

Rates and commodities rounded out a mixed cross-asset board. Around 4:18 a.m. ET, CNBC showed the U.S. 10-year yield near 4.686% and the 2-year near 4.154%. WTI crude for September was about $85.46 (+0.61%), December gold about $4,412.20 (−0.19%), and EUR/USD near 1.1603. The cleanest overnight rates picture remains those Treasury yield quotes rather than any single dollar-index print.

Your tickers

The cleanest universe-specific primary document since the prior U.S. close is $NVDA. In an August 17, 2026 Form 8-K and accompanying press release, NVIDIA said it partnered with SB Energy to secure land, power and shell capacity at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio, so the site can host NVIDIA AI compute. OpenAI is the customer under a 20-year lease structure described in the release.

Capacity figures matter for anyone following AI infrastructure names on the watchlist. The release says the initial deployment is designed for 4.25 IT-GW, with an option covering the remaining 3.75 IT-GW so OpenAI can be the customer for 8 IT-GW in total. The 8-K adds that residual-value guaranties tied to the leases are cumulatively capped at $105 billion for NVIDIA’s initial commitment, with ready-for-service conditions expected to begin in 2028. NVIDIA also said it will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy and highlighted an initial $80 million community-benefits fund for the Ohio project.

Outside that filing, most other watchlist names did not put out a fresh top-tier operating release that could be fully confirmed before the open. Nasdaq’s August 19 earnings calendar is busy in retail and industrials—$ADI, $TJX, $LOW and $TGT are among the pre-market reporters—but none of those tickers is on Eddie’s live 24-name watchlist, so they are calendar context rather than portfolio-specific catalysts. Secondary headlines on other names were left out unless a matching issuer or SEC primary document was in hand.

What to watch today

1. U.S. cash open at 9:30 a.m. ET — compare the first half-hour with Tuesday’s tech-led decline rather than with overnight futures alone.
2. Pre-market earnings from $ADI, $TJX, $LOW and $TGT (Nasdaq calendar) for broader risk appetite, even though they sit outside the live watchlist.
3. Treasury yields around the 4.15%–4.70% two-year/ten-year zone shown in the pre-open quotes; higher real yields have been the recent headwind for long-duration AI infrastructure stories.
4. Any follow-through commentary or additional exhibits on the $NVDA / SB Energy / OpenAI Ohio package as the market digests the $105 billion guaranty cap and 2028 service timing.
5. Crude near the mid-$85 area and the still-elevated VIX starting point after Tuesday’s 15.84 close.