Market Review: September 29, 2026

Closing Recap

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

U.S. stocks did a whole lot of nothing on Tuesday, pulling back slightly but holding in a tight trading range for a second straight day as Wall Street awaits key inflation (PCE) and GDP data on Wednesday morning while dealing with persistently high energy prices and Treasury yields as the worry over stubbornly high inflation continues to plague investors. Oil prices took a break today, sliding amid a tapping of the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) along with hopes of an easing of tensions between the U.S and Tehran. Treasury yields did not take a break, with the 5, 10 and 30 yr yields all holding around two decade highs, as fears of rising interest rates grow. The AI sector was in focus today (again) as OpenAI held its Dev day with plenty of headlines about valuations, products and revenues. US President Trump also said his meeting on Tuesday with AI leaders was very good and “very productive, extremely friendly.” He also said the companies would “work with local communities for the data centers in particular, and they’re going to work to make the community happy.” Stocks pared losses late day after New York Fed President John Williams suggested that the central bank could wait until December before raising interest rates again, pushing back against market bets on a follow-up increase next month. In data today, U.S. consumer confidence fell to its lowest in over 12 years. With one day left in the month, Financials (XLF) REITs (XLRE), Consumer Discretionary (XLY), and Materials (XLB) the biggest drags in September each down over -6% while Technology (XLK) +4.4% this month the lone positive sector while Healthcare (XLV) is flat.  

• Sept Consumer Confidence index 81.9 (consensus 89.2) vs Aug revised 88.6 (previous 89.4). The Present Situation Index fell by 7.9 points to 109.3; Expectations Index fell by 5.9 points to 63.6.
• S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index for 20 cities rose 0.3% M/M in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, exceeding the +0.2% consensus and holding steady with the 0.3% M/M growth in June, according to data released on Tuesday. Note that June’s increase was revised from the initial print of revised +0.2%. The 20-city composite, unadjusted, climbed 2.5% Y/Y, surpassing the +2.1% consensus and heating up from +2.2% Y/Y growth in June (revised from +2.1%).

• Cruise & Leisure sector: cruise line CCL shares rallied on results as Q3 revs $8.44B topped the $8.3B consensus and said expects full year operational improvement of over $150M in adj net Income compared to June guidance. In ski resorts, MTN Q4 EPS ($5.27) vs. est. ($5.35); revenue $278.1Mm vs. est. $269.3Mm; resort EBITDA loss ($122.4Mm) vs est ($128.68Mm). in Casino/online betting sector, shares of DKNG fell over -7% below $20 to lowest levels since April 2023 and FLUT making new multi-year lows.
• Auto sector: in auto retail, KMX shares rallied on results as Q2 EPS $1.16 tops consensus $0.75; Q2 revs $7.9B vs. est. $7.03B; Retail used unit sales increased 13.8% and comparable store used unit sales increased 13.0%; Q2 Wholesale units increased 15.9%.

• Aerospace sector: AIR reported Q1 EPS of $1.49 vs. Street’s $1.29 and revs of $918M tops the Street’s $881M, driven by broad-based growth across Parts Supply, Government Solutions, Legacy Commercial Programs, and RE&S.
• Defense sector: VOYG announced a strategic partnership with Anduril Industries to accelerate the development, testing, and production of technologies for advanced U.S. weapons systems and missile defense. LHX said that it received a contract valued at more than $6B over seven years from LMT, to expand propulsion production for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.
• Chemical sector: WLK shares slid after announces closure of its PVC plant in Cologne, Germany due to weak demand, high energy costs and increased import pressure from Asia; TROX shares bounced after announced the signing of a cooperation and investment agreement with JX Advanced Metals Corporation (JXAMY) to advance the development of its rare earth and critical minerals business to support growing demand for these minerals.

• Brokers & Banks sector: GS Board has discussed a plan to name John Waldron as its next CEO, the WSJ reported. Under the plan, David Solomon, who has led the bank since 2018, would step down as soon as next year and be executive chair. JEF Q3 EPS $1.08 vs. est. $1.00; net revenue $2.22B vs. est. $2.08B; investment Banking net revenue $1.33B; asset-management fees and investment-return revenue $34Mm vs. $84Mm, reflecting weaker performance across several fund strategies; HOOD September metrics were ahead of expectations, driven by stronger crypto and prediction-market activity and a steeper rates curve. PIPR and PWP shares active after the WSJ reported Piper Sandler has been in talks to combine with advisory firm Perella Weinberg Partners. https://tinyurl.com/5ab942hz

• IOVA raised full-year 2026 total revenue guidance to $410M-$420M from prior $350M-$370M view; midpoint increase is $55M, about 15%, implying nearly 60% annual growth in total revenue saying outlook reflects strong U.S. demand for Amtagvi and Proleukin; Authorized treatment center network expanded to about 100 Centers, targeting at least 110 by year-end 2026.
• NVO said a real-world study found that adults with type 2 diabetes who escalated their dose of diabetes drug Ozempic to 2 milligrams (mg) from 1 mg had a lower risk of major cardiovascular events compared to those who switched to LLY’s Mounjaro. Separately, Novo signed a licensing deal for a weight-loss treatment being developed by Hengrui Pharma that could be worth up to $2.6 billion. NVO will pay China-based Hengrui $300 million upfront, with the rest in milestones.
• QURE shares tumbled after the company provided an update on its ongoing Phase I/II study of AMT-130 in Huntington’s Disease, disclosing 12 patients who got high doses of AMT-130 had declined at a 44% slower rate after four years compared with an external control group using a common Huntington’s disease rating scale vs. 75% difference after three years.
• SMMT said AZN will make a $2B equity investment in Summit through convertible preferred shares; says investment is convertible into common stock at $18.36, representing a premium to the day’s closing price. SMMT and AZN entered into a clinical collaboration to evaluate ivonescimab in combination with AstraZeneca’s sonesitatug vedotin in gastrointestinal cancers.
• VOR said that more than 94% of patients treated with its experimental drug, Telitacicept, showed at least a five-point improvement on a measure of symptoms in patients with generalized myasthenia gravis after 48 weeks in a late-stage study

• Medical Equipment: STAA was upgraded to Buy at Stifel saying sees a path to 2H26 sales upside, aided by both China (EVO+ mix shift-driven) and ex-China (easing comps). 2027 Upside: Mix shift toward the higher-ASP EVO+ can be a meaningful source of 2027 China revenue growth—when coupled with the lapping of Middle East headwinds, 2027 revenue upside also appears likely.
• Managed Care: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced savings for millions of Medicare beneficiaries in 2027, with weighted average MA premiums projected to fall more than 16% from 2026 to 2027, and average prescription drug premiums in Medicare Advantage projected to plummet 38%. Additionally, average premium for stand-alone Part D prescription drug plans is projected to rise by less than $1 per month in 2027.

• Anthropic’s IPO prospectus shows it could value the company at more than $2 trillion; Anthropic lost $42B in 2025; Ai lab spent $7.33B on compute and infrastructure last year; operating loss widened to $8.06B in 2025 from $2.98B in 2024.
• META is expanding its AI agent Muse to small businesses, adding integrations with tools such as Shopify, QuickBooks, Stripe and Canva to help owners run their businesses and find new customers, as the Facebook-parent aims to diversify its revenue beyond advertising.
• OpenAI’s annualized revenue run rate is approaching $70B, up more than 70% since the start of Q3, according to Axios. Enterprise revenue has more than doubled since July, as OpenAI gains ground in business Ai adoption. Consumer growth is also accelerating, with OpenAI reportedly adding more revenue in Q3 alone than during all of 2025 (shares of ORCL and CRWV jumped on the ARR rev numbers).
• After having pushed back its plans for an initial public offering, OpenAI aims to raise at least $30B from investors in a new round of funding in which it is seeking a valuation of around $1.4T, not including the money raised, Bloomberg reported.
• Semiconductors: AMD said that it had entered an agreement to acquire Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs startup in a deal valued at $8.2 billion. San Francisco-based World Labs, which raised $1 billion in a funding round earlier this year, develops spatial-intelligence models. NVTS announced it has been awarded the Army ALATTIS program to develop next-generation 10 kV silicon carbide power semiconductor technology. NLST said that it has filed a new complaint at a U.S. trade tribunal seeking to block imports of MU memory chips used in GOOGL, NVDA and AVGO products for AI computing.
• Media sector: NFLX was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank while trims tgt to $95 from $100 saying the market’s obsession over U.S. time spent on Netflix overlooks the company’s larger total addressable market and healthier international engagement trends. Netflix’s international time spent has increased year-over-year in each of the past four six-month periods.
• Telecom Sector: AT and GLW sign multiyear fiber agreement worth more than $3B; Corning will supply fiber and cable products for AT&T’s U.S. network expansion. Agreement supports AT&T’s goal of reaching 60M Americans with high-speed internet by the end of 2030.
• Software sector: SSTI to be acquired by Transom Capital Group under which Transom will acquire the company through a tender offer for $8.00 per share in cash, and one non-transferable CVR worth up to $3.00 per share, for aggregate potential consideration of up to $11.00 per share in cash. MDB adds to prior day declines after CEO CJ Desai stepped down, to pursue a senior role at Meta Platforms. MongoDB has begun a search for a permanent CEO.