Mid-Morning Look: September 01, 2026

Mid-Morning Look

Tuesday, September 01, 2026

U.S. stocks are lower to kick off the new month, adding to the prior day declines as the S&P 500 falls to its lowest level since August 4th as the Iran War escalates and US Treasury Yields surge to highest levels since early 2025 and Brent Crude oil prices are now nearing $93/barrel. Coming into the new month, the S&P 500 has made 27 new highs in 2026 so far and held up well amid a constant rotation of market leaders on a week-to-week basis. Today, while technology (XLK) is weak, investors rotate into energy (XLE), healthcare (XLV) and consumer staples (XLP). Brent crude oil prices surge above $92/barrel after two oil tankers are struck in the Strait of Hormuz. Treasury yields the early story as the two-year treasury yield reaches highest level since January 2025 and the 10-yr came close to 4.8% before pulling back. The CBOE Volatility index (VIX) closed below the 15 level yesterday for its lowest monthly close since November 2024 – though hit highs around 16 this morning. Some earnings in tech space tonight with DELL, PANW, and MDB expected to report then jobs data center stage with ADP tomorrow an nonfarm Friday. U.S> stocks still down on the day, but paring losses as Treasury yields ease off highs.

• U.S. JOLTS job openings rose to 7.271M in July from 7.182M in June but below consensus 7.300M.
• July construction spending declined -0.5% vs. consensus unchanged to $2.158 trln, vs June unchanged (prev -0.1%); July private construction spending -0.5%, public spending -0.2%.
• The ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 54.6 in August from July’s near four-year high of 55.6, but below market expectations of 55.2. ISM U.S. manufacturing prices paid index 71.1 in August (consensus 70.5) vs 71.1 in July; employment index 51.2 in August (consensus 53.0) vs 52.8 in July; U.S. manufacturing new orders index 53.7 in August vs 56.7 in July.

• Lodging sector: PK was upgraded Park to Outperform at BMO Capital and raised tgt to $18 from $14, positive on the portfolio transformation strategy and sees a still healthy demand backdrop noting Park has one of the sector’s best growth setups into 2027. BMO Capital downgraded XHR to Market Perform from Outperform saying the company has fewer differentiated catalysts relative to peers in 2027 following a strong 2026 and sees risk/reward balanced.
• E&P & Equipment sector: CRK said it plans to sell stakes in its Haynesville shale assets and related midstream business to Azerbaijan’s SOCAR for $1.65 billion in cash. TDW was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BTIG with a $120 price target after meeting with management as expects a tightening offshore support vessel market over the next two years, which it says should drive pricing higher. Tidewater’s fleet should add $300M in EBITDA over that two year period.

• CRK +6%; amid rally in oil stocks and after said it plans to sell stakes in its Haynesville shale assets and related midstream business to Azerbaijan’s SOCAR for $1.65 billion in cash.
• GPRO +78%; is merging with privately held Starman Optical in a $285M recapitalization deal. GoPro shareholders will receive $1.14/share in cash and retain ~10% of the combined company, while ~$92M of GoPro debt will be repaid at closing.
• HOOD +2%; was upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley and raised the tgt to $150 from $124 as sees increasing evidence that Robinhood’s broader product capabilities are improving the economics of its installed customer base, supporting more assets per customer.
• MDT +1%; after the company raised the lower end of FY27 adj. EPS to $5.94 from $5.90 and lifts organic revenue growth target to 7.25%-7.75% from 6.75%-7.25% saying demand for heart devices used in complex cardiovascular procedures drove the forecast increase.
• NVS +6%; said its oral BTK inhibitor remibrutinib met primary endpoints in two Phase III trials for relapsing MS; Remibrutinib significantly reduced annualized relapse rates compared to teriflunomide and demonstrated superiority across key secondary metrics.
• TEM +1%; was upgraded to Overweight at Piper and raised the tgt to $76 from $56 saying the pending acquisition of PSNL gives Tempus ownership of a differentiated tumor-informed molecular residual disease platform.

• AMD -3%; as semiconductors pulling back and leading tech lower though still up broadly on the year; shares of ARM, MRVL, INTC, SMCI, others down on the day.
• MYGN -7%; downgraded to Underweight at Piper saying they don’t believe the business model can grow or cut its way to profitability, leaving divestiture of assets as the most credible path to value
• NIO -4%; posted 35,836 vehicle deliveries in August, marking a 14.5% y/y increase but representing a second consecutive monthly decline; the Onvo sub-brand experienced a sharp 46.4% y/y decline and dropped 13.2% compared to July figures.
• PMVP -4%; as announced ~22.1M shares and pre-funded warrants to buy 19.9M shares priced at $1.21, matching their last close, for ~$50.8M gross proceeds.