--- title: "Bessent's Bond Band-Aid, Bitcoin's Best Week Since 2023: This Week on Wall Street" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/296649586.md" description: "A volatile week on Wall Street saw Bitcoin surge 23%, its best week since 2023, following Treasury Secretary Bessent's temporary bond intervention which failed to sustain lower yields. Walmart shares dropped 9% despite beating earnings, due to weak underlying comps and tariff-related distortions. Moderna skyrocketed 134% on successful Phase 3 trial results for an mRNA cancer vaccine. Meanwhile, U.S. business activity hit a 52-month high with PMI at 56.0, signaling strong economic growth." datetime: "2026-08-21T20:01:41.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/296649586.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/296649586.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/296649586.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # Bessent's Bond Band-Aid, Bitcoin's Best Week Since 2023: This Week on Wall Street The U.S. Treasury stepped in to prop up long bonds, **Bitcoin** (CRYPTO: BTC) ripped over 20%, **Walmart Inc.** (NYSE:WMT) got punished on a beat and **Moderna Inc. (**NASDAQ:MRNA) delivered the biggest one-day rally in its history. ## **Bessent Steps In — Then The Market Steps Back** Treasury Secretary **Scott Bessent** staged a rare intervention on Wednesday. The 30-year Treasury yield had just hit 5.27%, a 19-year high, on a mix of concerns over the $40 trillion national debt, a fiscal 2026 deficit tracking above $1.8 trillion, and heavy AI-related corporate issuance. Two weeks after publishing its buyback schedule, Treasury announced it would “at least double” its buybacks of 10- to 30-year debt. Long-end yields collapsed on the news — the 30-year dropped nine basis points, the 10-year 5.7 basis points. The relief lasted less than 48 hours. By Friday, the 30-year was back to 5.25%, near pre-announcement levels. JPMorgan called the move a “band-aid” without underlying fiscal consolidation. Evercore ISI flagged the risk of a “slippery slope” if Bessent starts trying to defend specific yield levels. ## **Bitcoin Storms Higher** The bond intervention delivered one clear beneficiary: crypto. Bitcoin surged from around $63,000 Monday to above $77,000 Friday morning — a roughly 23% weekly gain, its best week since 2023. President **Donald Trump**‘s push for Congress to pass the Clarity Act added a regulatory tailwind, and $2.7 billion in bearish crypto bets got forcibly closed out — a record short squeeze that mechanically accelerated the move. ## Walmart Sinks 9% On A Beat-And-Raise Walmart Inc. delivered Q2 revenue of $187.9 billion (vs. $186.8 billion consensus) and adjusted EPS of $0.81 (vs. $0.74). Global e-commerce grew 23%, advertising 38%, marketplace 52%. Full-year FY27 guidance was raised: sales growth to 4-5% (from 3.5-4.5%), operating income to 7-8.5%, EPS to $2.80-$2.87. The catch: a one-off $2.9 billion tariff refund inflated the print. Underlying U.S. comps grew just 2.6%, and Q3 EPS guidance of $0.62-$0.64 landed below the $0.68 consensus. Shares fell 9.2% to $103.84, wiping out roughly $90 billion in market cap. ## Business Growth Hits 52-Month High The S&P Global U.S. Flash Composite PMI jumped to 56.0 in August from 54.5 in July, the fastest pace of business activity growth since April 2022. Services surged to a 20-month high of 56.8, offsetting a slowdown in manufacturing output (51.9, a 13-month low). ‘U.S. business is booming,’ S&P Global chief economist **Chris Williamson** said. The survey points to Q3 GDP growth “approaching 3.0%,” well above Q2’s 1.5% pace. ## Top S&P 500 Weekly Gainers - **Moderna Inc. +134%** — up 177% Wednesday alone, the biggest single-day gain in the stock’s history, after intismeran autogene — its Merck-partnered personalized mRNA melanoma vaccine — hit both primary and secondary endpoints in the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial (1,137 patients, stage IIB-IV melanoma). It was the first successful late-stage readout for any mRNA cancer therapy. Bank of America upgraded to Neutral and raised its price target from $40 to $170. Short sellers absorbed roughly $5.5 billion in losses. Shares gave back 20% Thursday on profit-taking, then rebounded 11.5% Friday. - **Coinbase Global Inc.** (NASDAQ:COIN) **+26%** — the highest-liquidity crypto proxy on U.S. exchanges rode Bitcoin’s 23% weekly surge and mounting optimism around Clarity Act passage. - **The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.** (NYSE:EL) **+17%** — Q4 revenue of $3.63 billion (+6.5% YoY) beat the $3.54 billion consensus. Adjusted EPS of $0.39 topped the $0.32 estimate. Management raised FY27 adjusted operating margin guidance to 12.7-13.5% (from 11.2% in FY26) and guided FY27 EPS to $3.10-$3.35, implying 24-34% growth. Fragrance grew 10% organically for the year; mainland China accelerated 12% in Q4. *Photo: Shutterstock* ### Related Stocks - [GBTC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GBTC.US.md) - [WMT.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WMT.US.md) - [MRNA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MRNA.US.md) - [IBIT.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IBIT.US.md) - [ARKB.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ARKB.US.md) - [FBTC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/FBTC.US.md) - [BITB.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BITB.US.md) - [BITO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BITO.US.md) - [BRRR.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BRRR.US.md) - [BTCO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BTCO.US.md) - [BTCW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BTCW.US.md) - [HODL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HODL.US.md) - [EZBC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/EZBC.US.md) - [MRNX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MRNX.US.md) - [MRNY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MRNY.US.md) - [03008.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/03008.HK.md) - [03042.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/03042.HK.md) - [03430.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/03430.HK.md) - [BTCE.DE](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BTCE.DE.md) - [JPM.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM.US.md) - [EVR.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/EVR.US.md) - [SPGI.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPGI.US.md) - [.SPX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/.SPX.US.md) - [MRK.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MRK.US.md) - [BAC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC.US.md) - [COIN.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/COIN.US.md) - [EL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/EL.US.md) - [JPM-M.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-M.US.md) - [JPM-C.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-C.US.md) - [JPM-D.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-D.US.md) - [JPM-L.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-L.US.md) - [8634.JP](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/8634.JP.md) - [JPM-K.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-K.US.md) - [JPM-J.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-J.US.md) - [BAC-Q.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-Q.US.md) - [BML-L.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BML-L.US.md) - [BAC-L.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-L.US.md) - [BAC-K.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-K.US.md) - [BML-H.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BML-H.US.md) - [BAC-N.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-N.US.md) - [BAC-E.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-E.US.md) - [MER-K.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MER-K.US.md) - [BAC-O.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-O.US.md) - [BML-G.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BML-G.US.md) - [BAC-M.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-M.US.md) - [BAC-B.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-B.US.md) - [BML-J.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BML-J.US.md) - [BAC-S.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-S.US.md) - [BAC-P.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC-P.US.md) - [8648.JP](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/8648.JP.md) ## Related News & Research - [Steak ‘n Shake’s Bitcoin bet posts double-digit sales growth](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298510530.md) - [Liquid Network Recovers 85% Of Stolen Bitcoin After Hackers Demand A Security Fix Before Returning Most Funds](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298258280.md) - [Polygon CEO Triggers Crypto Community With Vacation Take and Schools Critics](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298116277.md) - [Liquid ‘white hats’ return $270M in Bitcoin as network prepares restart](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298258424.md) - [PowerCompute mines 7.9 bitcoin in August, unchanged from July](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298454153.md) --- > **Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.**