Market Review: September 01, 2026

Closing Recap

Tuesday, September 01, 2026

U.S. stocks opened lower overnight, adding to the prior day losses and starting the month of September (historically the worst month for U.S. stocks) on a down note as another surge in oil prices kept inflation fears a dominant concern following the hawkish comments by Fed Chairman Warsh last week about rates. Oil prices jumped over 5% after an Axios report that the U.S. was carrying out fresh strikes on Iranian targets around strait of Hormuz today. President Trump said this afternoon “if Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level.” Iran later said their Armed Forces have launched a military operation in response to U.S. strikes as American bases and interests across the region will be targeted with missiles and drones. The headlines dominated this afternoons trading sending oil prices surging and stock markets lower on uncertainty. While markets were heavy the last few days, it comes on the heels of a strong August and the S&P 500 (SPX) only a little more than 2% off its all-time highs, with several sectors up double digit % this year. The Volatility index (VIX) closed below the 15 level yesterday for its lowest monthly close since November 2024, but rose as high as 16.80 today before paring gains late day but ending above the 16 level.

• U.S. JOLTS job openings rose to 7.271M in July from 7.182M in June but below consensus 7.300M. The number and rate of layoffs and discharges were little changed at 1.7 million and 1%. The quit rate changed little at 3.1 million and 1.9% over the month.
• July construction spending declined -0.5% vs. consensus unchanged to $2.158 trln (around 3 year lows), vs June unchanged (prev -0.1%); July private construction spending -0.5%.
• Dallas Fed Texas service sector revenue index 6.6 in August vs 9.5 in July and Dallas Fed Texas service sector index of general business activity outlook 4.2 in August vs 6.6 in July.
• 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.

• December gold prices fell -$85.10, or -1.90%, at $4,396.40 an ounce while December silver falls -$1.62, or -2.42%, to settle at $65.37 an ounce as elevated Treasury yields and a stronger U.S. dollar weighed on prices, while breaking back below key technical levels. Gold had hit a more than three-month high last week before sliding over 3% on Friday, after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh warned of having more "work to do" if inflation does not cool down to the central bank’s 2% target. Traders added to bets on a September rate hike after Warsh’s comments.

• Casinos & Gaming sector (WYNN, LVS, MGM, MLCO): Macau gross gaming revenue fell (-1.2%) y/y in August to 21.9B patacas ($2.7B), according to data from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. However, the GGR tally was up 8.1% from the level seen in July. For the first eight months of 2026, Macau GGR is up 3.7% y/y to 169.1B patacas ($19.2B).
• 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.

• Utility sector: After tumbling on Monday on legislation, Bank of America downgraded California Utilities PCG and EIX after the California legislature advanced a Bill that didn’t offer the electricity providers as much wildfire Protection as hoped. PG&E tumbled 20% and Edison International sank 23% on Monday. Also, Jefferies upgraded SRE to Buy from Hold saying shares have de-rated to ~14% P/E discount to Electric peers on TX Transmission CAPEX risks and CA legislation failure and the firm generally believes SRE’s TX CAPEX will remain intact, although 765kv delays are likely.

• ALMS said its experimental drug failed to meet the main goal of a mid-stage trial in patients with a chronic autoimmune disease called systemic lupus erythematosus.
• CAPR was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper after the FDA last week extended the action date for deramiocel to November 22; notes acceptance for review of a major amendment and extension of an FDA action date is standard and does not guarantee deramiocel approval.
• EBS receives an order worth about $24M from the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to supply its Cyfendus vaccine for anthrax preparedness.
• GSK said a phase 2 probe of its mRNA flu vaccine candidate showed positive results and that phase 3 trials will start this month; said its flu vaccine candidate showed higher immune responses against all flu types compared with currently licensed vaccines.
• NVS said its oral BTK inhibitor remibrutinib met primary endpoints in two Phase III trials (REMODEL-1 and 2) for relapsing MS; Remibrutinib significantly reduced annualized relapse rates compared to teriflunomide and demonstrated superiority across key secondary metrics.
• PMVP announced updated interim ovarian cancer data from the Phase 2 pivotal portion of the PYNNACLE clinical trial. Also 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.

• MedTech sector: MDT shares rose 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 (also posted Q1 adj EPS and revenue beat #9.76B vs. est. $9.55B).

• Data center sector: HUT shares active after the WSJ reported Anthropic has signed a cloud-computing deal worth $35B with NVDA backed Lambda for a Texas data center, and the data center is being developed by HUT and has a capacity of about 350 MW.
• Content Delivery sector: AKAM was upgraded to Overweight at Piper saying the Compute segment is about to show a material inflection and should show an acceleration as Akamai can show it is benefitting from AI builds and the pipeline is robust.
• Cable & Telecom sector: CHTR announced that Jessica Fischer will step down from her current position as the company’s CFO on October 15, to relocate for another professional opportunity. The company will begin a comprehensive search for her replacement immediately
• Hardware & Components: GPRO 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. The combined company will remain Nasdaq-listed and plans to expand beyond consumer cameras.
• Quantum sector: IONQ partnered with QC Ware to demonstrate a hybrid quantum-classical drug-discovery workflow using IonQ Forte via Amazon Braket. Test modeled the cytochrome P450nor heme active site, calculating electrostatic interaction energy within 0.5 kcal/mol.