Baidu and CoreWeave Lead AI Selloff as 30-Year Treasury Yields Hit Multi-Year Highs

AI chip stocks led the broader technology sector lower Tuesday as the 30-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.32 pct, its highest since early 2024, with Baidu Inc. reporting a fourth consecutive quarter of advertising collapse and CoreWeave Inc. falling on debt-financing concerns as the top AI stocks 2026 hardware cohort took the brunt of the rate-driven rotation. The S&P 500 closed down 0.69 pct at 7,691.76, the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.33 pct to 26,289.71, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) dropped 4.96 pct to 531.39 as rising bond yields, renewed Middle East geopolitical tensions, and a weak Baidu print combined to punish capital-intensive AI names. The sole bright spot in the AI stocks today universe: enterprise software, led by monday.com's 5.65 pct post-earnings surge.

Top AI stocks today: August 18, 2026

Baidu tumbles 12.73 pct on Q2 revenue miss and structural ad decline

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) fell 12.73 pct to $90.87, its sharpest single-session drop in months, after reporting second-quarter revenue of 31.3 billion yuan ($4.62 billion), down 4 pct year over year and below the $4.65 billion analyst consensus. Core advertising revenue fell 19 pct year over year to 13.1 billion yuan, the fourth consecutive quarter of 15-21 pct ad declines, as users migrated from Baidu's traditional search product to AI chatbots and e-commerce platforms redirected promotional budgets. The silver lining was real but insufficient: AI Cloud revenue rose 50 pct year over year to 7.3 billion yuan, with GPU Cloud revenue surging 283 pct, yet infrastructure revenue is not yet large enough to offset the structural advertising collapse. StartupHub.ai data shows 643 private semiconductor and AI chip companies in its tracked universe carry a median funding level of $63 million per company, a capital-intensity profile that echoes the rate-sensitivity visible in public-market chip names this session and underscores how much private-market capital is still flowing into a cohort under bond-market pressure. The Baidu print reanimated concerns about the China AI trade: even a company leading in generative-AI deployment domestically cannot escape the structural shift away from search-based monetization.

CoreWeave falls 12.10 pct as rising Treasury yields test AI infrastructure valuations

CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWV) dropped 12.10 pct to $93.17 on above-average volume of 36.9 million shares, 28 pct above its 30-day average, as investors rotated out of high-growth, debt-heavy AI infrastructure stocks to watch amid a rising-rate environment. The company's upgraded 2026 capital expenditure target of $35 billion to $39 billion leaves its valuation acutely vulnerable when Treasury yields spike: higher debt-financing costs widen the discount rate in any forward cash-flow model. CoreWeave is down 13.52 pct over the past five sessions, suggesting the selling pressure predated Tuesday's rate move and may reflect a broader reassessment of capital-intensive AI infrastructure plays. Among the best AI stocks to buy in August 2026, CRWV has become a sentiment barometer: when yields fall it typically leads the bounce; when they rise it leads the retreat. The stock is now 12.5 pct below its recent five-day high and still carries significant debt load relative to its revenue base.

monday.com jumps 5.65 pct on enterprise AI software earnings beat

monday.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: MNDY) gained 5.65 pct to $88.04, leading all AI stocks today and confirming that the best AI stocks 2026 ranking is shifting from hardware to software. The work-management platform reported results that beat analyst estimates across key metrics, with the mean analyst price target now at $108.50, implying 26 pct upside from Tuesday's close. The mondayAI suite, which layers natural-language workflow automation on top of the existing project-management platform, is generating measurable upsell with enterprise clients. Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM) gained 2.71 pct and ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) added 1.52 pct, confirming that the enterprise SaaS cohort attracted buyers on a day when Magnificent 7 AI stocks and chip names absorbed heavy selling. The session illustrates a key reshuffling in the AI infrastructure stocks conversation: inference and AI-agent monetization are rewarded, while training-cluster hardware is discounted by the bond market.

Notable but quieter

Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: TER) fell 8.77 pct to $404.29, surrendering much of yesterday's 5.81 pct post-earnings gain as the rate-driven rotation hit test-equipment names along with the broader chip cohort. Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) shed 7.02 pct to $940.76, with its 198 pct year-to-date run amplifying the rate-sensitivity: after a historic run, even modest yield pressure finds sellers. ARM Holdings Plc (NASDAQ: ARM) declined 6.67 pct to $253.32, down 12.57 pct over the past month and approaching key technical support levels after a sharp de-rating since its July highs. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) fell 6.58 pct to $96.68 as no company-specific catalyst emerged to cushion the board chip selloff, though the stock remains 145 pct higher year-to-date on the AI-driven semiconductor cycle thesis. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) bucked the China-tech selling that hit BIDU, rising 2.76 pct to $128.15 as investors distinguished between BIDU's advertising-dependent model and BABA's cloud-and-commerce revenue base.

What to watch tomorrow

The Federal Reserve releases FOMC meeting minutes at 2:00 pm ET Wednesday, August 19, the session's highest-impact macro event for AI chip stocks and interest-rate-sensitive technology names. Goldman Sachs said Monday that a September hike is "very unlikely," but any hawkish language in the minutes could extend Tuesday's rate-driven selloff. Target Corp. and TJX Companies report earnings Wednesday before the open; Walmart Inc. reports Thursday. On the AI infrastructure stocks front, Keysight Technologies reported fiscal Q3 results after Tuesday's close. NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) remains the dominant catalyst on the calendar: earnings are due August 26 after market close, with analyst consensus at $28.7 billion in revenue. Jackson Hole symposium runs August 27-29, with Fed Chair Warsh's keynote on August 28 expected to set the rate narrative for September.

What are the top AI stocks to buy in August 2026?

Across hardware, hyperscale cloud, and enterprise SaaS, the consensus top AI stocks in August 2026 include NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), and Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) on the chip hardware side; Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) for hyperscale AI infrastructure; and monday.com (MNDY) and Salesforce Inc. (CRM) for enterprise AI software. Wall Street's 2026 focus has shifted from training-cluster buildout to inference and AI-agent monetization, which is reshuffling which names lead each session: on days when Treasury yields spike, the capital-intensive hardware layer sells off while enterprise AI software applications hold or gain.

Core watchlist

Chips

NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA): -2.34 pct on 102M shares, heavy volume. 30-year Treasury yield the near-term headwind; NVDA earnings Aug 26 AMC at consensus $28.7B revenue is the next catalyst that matters.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD): -4.27 pct on 23.5M shares. Rate-sensitive at 116.76 pct YTD; no company-specific catalyst; watching $480 as key support.
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO): -3.17 pct on 22.8M shares. Down 8.66 pct over five sessions, suggesting distribution; next catalyst is fiscal Q3 earnings in September.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM): -4.07 pct on 14M shares. Capital-intensive foundry model catches extra rate pressure; holding $400 as near-term support.

Hyperscalers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT): +0.27 pct on 23.7M shares. Most resilient hyperscaler in a down tape; Azure AI growth seen as partially insulating from hardware-layer rate pressure.
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): +0.06 pct on 19.2M shares. Essentially flat; the BIDU print raises the same structural advertising question for Alphabet's core search business in an AI-chatbot world.
Meta Platforms Inc. (META): -4.45 pct on 26.6M shares. Hardest-hit Magnificent 7 AI stock on the day; -15.55 pct over one month reflects market skepticism around its $65 billion capex commitment under rising yields.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN): -0.71 pct on 31.5M shares. AWS cloud revenue the ballast; net result near-flat relative to the chip carnage on the day.

Enterprise SaaS

Oracle Corp. (ORCL): -2.63 pct on 17.1M shares. Still -27.04 pct YTD making it the laggard in the group; Japan sovereign cloud wins the long-term thesis, not converting to tape momentum yet.
Salesforce Inc. (CRM): +2.71 pct on 13.7M shares. Agentforce ARR momentum the tailwind; holding positive territory confirms enterprise AI spend is intact even as hardware sells off.
ServiceNow Inc. (NOW): +1.52 pct on 14.5M shares. Workflow-AI agent narrative intact; +17.08 pct over one month shows institutional accumulation ahead of Q3 print.
monday.com Ltd. (MNDY): Covered in full above. Earnings beat and 5.65 pct gain confirmed as top AI stocks to watch in the enterprise software cohort.

Vol / retail

Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR): -0.59 pct on 28M shares. Shallow dip; +29.31 pct over one month suggests government AI contract pipeline maintains a floor bid.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA): -0.72 pct on 27.1M shares. Modest give-back; autonomy re-rating is the multi-quarter thesis, not today's macro driver.
Snowflake Inc. (SNOW): -1.45 pct on 4M shares. Managed a modest decline; +19.73 pct one-month run intact as data-cloud AI demand remains the narrative.

Not investment advice.