Mid-Morning Look: September 17, 2026

Mid-Morning Look

Thursday, September 17, 2026

U.S. stocks off to a strong start overnight as AI led tech stocks, semis, data center names rebound a day after the Fed raised interest rates by 25bps, the first rate hike since 2023, while Treasury yields and oil prices dip slightly. Early strength on Wall Street with technology (XLK), consumer discretionary (XLY), and materials (XLB) leading higher while financials (XLF) lag again along with energy (XLE). A busy day of economic data as weekly jobless claims were better, Philly Fed survey down from prior month but above consensus while housing data showed weakness as mortgage rates rise. A day after the Fed raised rates, the Bank of England this morning maintains bank rate at 3.75% in 6-3 vote, repeating the July statement that there is “little evidence so far” of material second-round inflation effects. Next up is the Bank of Japan (BOJ) meeting overnight where a 25 bps rate hike is widely expected. Lots of news in the AI/power sector as GNRC jumps over 20% in deal with AMZN for power, NBIS shares jumped on price increases, and CRWV shares fell on bond/stock offering headlines. Semiconductors (SOX) seeing early strength with the SOX +3% led by INTC, ARM, MRVL, MU and others. The CBOE Volatility index (fear) falls -10% as stocks open the day higher into option expiration tomorrow.

• Philadelphia Fed business conditions September fell to 37.8 from August 47.4 but above the consensus reading of 30.5; prices paid index September 48.6 vs August 40.9; new orders index September 29.2 vs August 30.1; employment index September 11.8 vs August 27.9; Philadelphia Fed six-month business conditions September 52.9 vs August 73.6.
• August housing starts fell -2.6% to 1.275M unit rate (below consensus 1.309M) as single-family starts +7.6% to 918,000 unit rate; multifamily -21.7% to 357,000 unit rate; Aug housing permits fell -2.7% to 1.394M unit rate (consensus 1.410M) vs July 1.433M unit rate; Aug single-family permits -1.8% to 878,000 unit rate; multifamily -4.3% to 516,000 unit rate.
• In another housing data point, August Pending Home sales -4.7% from Aug 2025 and M/M, Aug Pending Home sales index rose +0.3% vs. consensus -0.6%.

• Industrials & Equipment: GNRC shares surged after announced a landmark, multi-year supply agreement to power AMZN’s expanding data center infrastructure, unlocking up to $8B in total potential order volume with initial deliveries projected at $2.4B across 2027 and 2028; MIR was added as positive catalyst watch at JP Morgan as the firm believes MIR is entering a 2H26 inflection, where backlog conversion and steadier pricing support a step-up in volumes, while margins are positioned to improve meaningfully in the back half. MWA was downgraded to Underperform at RBC Capital as it believes consensus F2027 revenue growth of 4% does not reflect the combined headwinds of fading federal stimulus, hydrant backlog normalization.
• Auto sector: CPRT was downgraded from Buy to Hold at HSBC saying its outlook looks increasingly challenging after its 4QFY26 saw a return to sharp declines in US Insurance volumes, down 7.5% vs competitor RB Global (auto volumes up 11% in its Q2); LYFT was downgraded to Neutral at Guggenheim and cut tgt to $16 from $22 driven by lower second half of 2027 volume forecasts coupled with what it sees as a limited catalyst path ahead. COST said it’s partnering with DASH to offer delivery from its U.S. warehouse stores. DoorDash already offers Costco delivery in a few markets, including Australia, Sweden and Puerto Rico.

• GNRC +22%; after it agreed to supply up to $8B worth of generators for Amazon’s data centers and issued a warrant for a stake in the company.
• HAWK +6%; was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Bank America while lowering its price tgt to $23 from $34 saying while space and Defense tech peers have sold off in recent weeks, they sees Hawk’s underlying business as strong.
• HOOD +3%; along with gains in COIN, CRCL after the SEC said platforms trading tokenized stocks get five-year relief from exchange definition under SEC rules; liquidity providers in tokenized stocks get five-year exemption from dealer registration requirements.
• MGNI +4%; along with PUBM, TTD were higher early following last night’s release of full opinion of DOJ in GOOGL’s Ad-tech antitrust trial case – Magnite shares are higher as opinion is seen as a big victory for Independent Ad-tech
• NBIS +3%; the company has raised prices for several of its Computing services; NBIS is said to increase prices for several on-demand GPU resources from Oct. 1, with the changes affecting NVDA’s H100, H200, B200, and B300 chips.
• RGR +5%; after Beretta Holding began a cash tender offer for Sturm Ruger’s shares at a price of $44.80 a piece; Beretta said the tender offer is to purchase up to 2.4 million of the outstanding shares of Sturm Ruger’s common stock.
• VICR +16%; shares rise after the power-component maker announced a licensing agreement tied to its technology for high-performance artificial intelligence processors

• CRWV -4%; after offering privately $3B in convertible bonds due Apr 1, 2033, saying they intend to use net offering proceeds for general corporate purposes, among other things; also plans to sell up to 35 mln Class A shares in “at-the-market” (ATM) offering program.
• FLNC -17%; lowered its FY26 revenue forecast to $2.4B from prior view of $2.9B-$3.1B and now sees FY adj. EBITDA loss of ~$200M, wider than previous forecast of ~$10M loss as continued delays in contract manufacturing facility in Houston primary reason for lowering forecast
• GS -1%; adds to prior day declines, falling further below its 200dma yesterday around $956 after said Thursday expects its fixed-income, currencies and commodities (FICC) business will be slightly softer in Q3 compared to very strong performance for its equities business.
• LEN -1%; as Q3 EPS that was below Street consensus as all homebuilding metrics were below forecast (Q3 Order units 20.9K vs. guide 21.0K-22.0K and order ASP $359K vs. $370K est.) and the midpoint of management guidance, while the outlook for FYQ4 also disappointed,