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Good morning. Today is Thursday, August 18th and I'm your host Julie Morgan.

Our Top Stories.

The FOMC Minutes and Later Bank of America, Tesla, crypto, Netflix, and Apple.

The major U.S. Equity averages finished lower Wednesday following an uninspiring retail sales report.

With the decline, the Dow broke a five day winning streak and the

S&P 500 came off its highest level since April. 10 of the 11 S&P sectors posted declines.

This was led by a greater than 1% slide in materials, communication services, and

consumer discretionary. Energy represented the only gainer among the major market

segments, rising about 0.8%. Wednesday's action took place amid

retail sales data and updated information from the Fed. July's retail sales figures

came in softer than anticipated with data pointing to a flat reading with the previous month.

This was lower than the forecasted 0.1% increase.

Rates pushed higher during the day. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 2.9% and the

two-year yield rose three basis points to 3.28%. In the earning spotlight today, Estay Lauder, Tapestry, Ross Stores, NetE's, Macy's, Coals, and Applied

Materials. In our day watch is a standout gainer.

Kossava Sciences soared 27% on the news that a company insider had made a larger purchase of company stock.

With the advanced shares recorded their highest

close in more than a month. In an SEC filing, company director Sanford Robertson

revealed that he had purchased an additional 100,000 Sava shares.

This brings Robertson's total holdings

...