Stock Market Update
August 17, 2026
UPGRADES
Oil producer Vista Energy jumped in premarket on Monday after it was revealed that billionaire Peter Thiel’s hedge fund had acquired a stake in the Argentine company.
Thiel Macro LLC reported that it owned almost 1.2 million American Depository Shares of Vista Energy, worth about $76 million, as of the second quarter ending June 30, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Filing published on Friday.
Vista Energy was last seen up nearly 4.3% in premarket trading on Monday.
DOWNGRADES
With a growing number of colleges and universities costing more than $100,000 a year, higher education is slipping out of reach for many students, several reports now show.
Just 12% of surveyed Americans say four-year colleges are affordable, according to a recent Lumina Foundation and Gallup poll, which surveyed 14,000 adults without a degree or who are working toward one, nearly 6,000 college graduates, and 2,000 employers June 1-15. Cost is the single biggest barrier to entry for prospective students, an earlier Lumina Foundation and Gallup release from the same study said.
NEWS
President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. would “bomb” Oman if the Gulf nation “gets in the way,” as Washington’s 60-day ceasefire with Iran expires with no official negotiations or deal in sight.
Oman has been locked in talks with Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz to reopen the strategically critical waterway to commercial transit, as the U.S. maintains its blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran has continued to deny any direct negotiations with the U.S. Trump said Monday that informal talks are taking place with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, but insisted the U.S. is in no rush to make a deal.