U.S. stock futures were flat after all major Wall Street indexes finished higher Tuesday, with investors awaiting the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists expect Core PCE to rise 0.2% monthly and reach a 3.3% annual rate, while headline inflation is forecast to ease to about 3.6% or 3.7%. A much higher reading could accelerate expectations for a September rate hike. NVIDIA’s quarterly earnings after the close are another major market focus. The Nasdaq closed at 26,151, up 0.66%, the Russell 2000 at 3,010, up 0.50%, the S&P 500 at 7,677, up 0.32%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 53,555, up 0.26%. Treasury yields declined across the curve despite differing views on Treasury Secretary Bessent’s plan to buy long-dated U.S. government bonds; the 30-year yield ended at 5.16% and the 10-year yield at 4.63%, each 10 basis points below recent highs. Brent crude fell 3.95% to $86.68 and West Texas Intermediate dropped 5.96% to $80.79 as analysts cited a shift in U.S. positioning toward Iran from military pressure to an economic approach. Natural gas rose 0.32% to $2.79. Gold gained 0.17% to $4,658, while silver fell 0.38% to $68.81. Bitcoin briefly exceeded $80,000 and reached a three-month high above $81,200 before easing to about $79,300-$79,400; at 8 a.m. EDT it traded at $78,400, while Ethereum was quoted at $2,461. Analysts linked the crypto move to renewed concerns over U.S. government debt, persistent inflation and a weaker dollar, which increased demand for scarce assets after recent Treasury bond buyback announcements. Wall Street research changes on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, included upgrades for argenx, DT Midstream, Neogen and SolarEdge Technologies; downgrades for Dick’s Sporting Goods, EPAM Systems, GoDaddy, Intuit and TJX Companies; and new coverage of Atlassian, Axogen, Jersey Mike’s Subs, JFrog and Lattice Semiconductor. No single analyst report should be the sole basis for an investment decision.