Market Review: September 17, 2026

Closing Recap

Thursday, September 17, 2026

US equity futures bounced back overnight after trading off post-Fed yesterday.  Early breadth was particularly strong, favoring advancers by 7:2 with IWM (+1.14%) versus SPY (+0.95%) and QQQ (+1.59%). SPY breadth favored advancers by 9:7 while QQQ breadth favored advancers by 5:4. Early sector performance saw Technology (+2.17%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.58%) and Materials (+0.91%) outperforming among S&P sector ETFs, while Financials (-0.38%), Energy (-0.42%) and Communications (-0.43%) paced the underperformers with 7 sectors gaining versus 4 declining.

In sentiment today, the bull-bear spread in the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) weekly survey was -24.6% vs -1.3% last week. Bulls slipped to 28.8% from 38% while Bears rose to 53.3% from 39.3%. Neutrals dropped to 17.9% from 22.7%. Meanwhile, the daily Fear & Greed Index continued to show Fear at 29/100 versus last week’s 32 (Fear), but well off last month’s 59 (Greed) reading. Perhaps yesterday’s Fed hike will remove sufficient uncertainty that the needle will begin to move back toward more neutral territory. 

The rally day looked fairly secure into the last hour of trading with both the S&P and Nasdaq futures gaining more than 1%. The first Fed hike is now behind us, and we have some time to wait before the next round of earnings, so now we return to the data hounds and Fed watchers obsessing over each economic release in the search for clues to the market’s direction. Of course, we still have the historically concerning month of October looming, but that’s always a wild card.

As expected, the Bank of England 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. BOE Q3 GDP growth expected to be +0.4% (July forecast: Q3 +0.1%). Next up is the Bank of Japan decision overnight which is expected to raise rates by 25 bps to 1.25% on Friday which is effectively locked in, but focus is on the statement, vote split and Gov Ueda presser. Underlying inflation is close to 2%, and policy is increasingly about containing upside risks and potential overshoot.

• 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%.

• WTI crude futures slipped overnight and traded mostly sideways after recovering early despite headlines Trump intends to hold Iran talks with Gulf leaders next week. Though there were some Houthi-related headlines intraday, the day was generally quiet and October WTI crude futures settled only -$0.52/bbl, or -0.51%, at $101.91
• For the 1st time since 2007, the 10Y yield closed above 5% on Thursday after the Fed raised rates by 25bps, but slipped over 6bps today back down to 4.93%. The Japanese yen could weaken if the Bank of Japan fails to signal interest rates will rise as much as markets expect in a decision Friday. The BOJ is widely expected to deliver a 25 basis-point rate rise and could indicate plans to raise rates further.

• Restaurant sector: WING was added as an upside 90-day catalyst watch at Citigroup saying they believe near-term sales are likely to react to: shifts in Wing’s marketing strategy timed for the NFL season that will feature per-person price points, longer spots, and a more promotional 3PD approach that can drive placement, and a football season shift towards group/occasion sales
• Specialty Retail sector: YETI said it expects its growth to continue in the years ahead as it looks to expand its product portfolio and international presence; said it is targeting annual net sales growth in the mid-single to high-single digits through fiscal 2030, with annual growth for adjusted earnings per share at a low-double digit to high-teens rate.
• Homebuilder sector: LEN reported Q3 (August quarter-end) 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, suggesting an EPS outlook below the current Street estimate of $2.00.

• Leisure sector: Beretta Holding began a cash tender offer for RGR 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. Cruise lies (CCL, RCL, NCLH, VIK) saw early strength as energy prices pulled back for a second day.

• Alternative Energy/Solar sector: FLNC shares tumbled after the energy storage provider 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 guide.
• Power Generation: Piper said after 50 investor calls across 10 PowerGen names, MTZ and NXT remain Piper’s top picks, supported by earnings visibility, diversification, catalysts, and margin upside. Inbound was heaviest on FSLR and AGX. Most investors agreed with Piper’s NXT and PWR calls, and the hardest pushback came on OKLO and XE
• Defense sector: HAWK 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, benefiting from elevated global demand for Rf Intelligence given the threat environment.

• Insurance sector: ALL announces August catastrophe losses of $748M, or $591M after-tax – SEC filing
• Payments sector: MA plans to roll out an agentic payment option this week for everyday purchases through a partnership with the startup Alchemy, the WSJ reported.

• ASTH shares fell following a short report GlassHouse Research which disclosed that it’s short shares of Astrana.
• NUVB announces FDA approval of supplemental new drug application for IBTROZI® (taletrectinib) with updated duration of response in TKI-Naïve advanced ROS1-Positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.
• RARE shares jumped after the FDA approved its gene therapy for the treatment of a rare, fatal disease, Sanfilippo syndrome type A
• MedTech sector: BSX was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup and cut tgt to $50 from $57 noting the company faces a more mature U.S. pulsed field ablation market with increased competition along with a stagnating left atrial appendage closure market. Citi upgraded HAE to Buy from Neutral and raised tgt to $123 from $92 citing potential upside from the company’s non-exclusive supply agreement with CSL.
• Healthcare service sector: OSCR raised 2026 AOI guidance, lowered MLR, and reaffirmed revenue and SG&A guidance ahead of its Investor Day; AOI guidance was raised 100MM to $600-$800MM, MLR guidance was lowered 50bps to 81.0%-82.0% (from 81.5%-82.5%) and guidance for revenue / SG&A ratio held at $18.7B-$19.0B / 15.6%-16.1%.
• AI enabled Precision Medicine solutions sector seeing continued strength with big gains in the likes of TEM, TWST, MRNA, RVTY, TXG, RXRX, GH and others.

• Data center sector: Bitcoin miners turned AI power/data center names initiated at Wells Fargo with Overweight and $175 price target on HUT saying the company’s contracted backlog is among the highest quality in the space, and has 949 megawatts of critical IT capacity contracted with two different tenants across two campuses. APLD was initiated at Overweight rating and $50 price target noting the company offers an investment grade-concentrated backlog, power-advantaged footprint with lower relative regulatory risk; WULF initiated at Overweight rating and $30 price target with favorable view of TeraWulf track record and the quality of its contracted and pipeline sites; CIFR at Overweight rating and $25 price target as views Cipher as a "high-risk/high-reward name" and lastly CORZ at Overweight and $28 price target as views the company as the industry-leader in converting announced deals to operating megawatts.

• SaaS software sector: CRM reaffirmed its prior F30 sales target of $63B and continues to anticipate organic growth reaccelerating in H2:F27 at their analyst meeting; analysts weighed in on CRM message at both the Dreamforce keynote and its investor event: Ai is not killing SaaS. Piper noted the firm got three of the leading Ai CEOs to present at its event and announced that the top 9 Ai companies are running CRM wall-to-wall.
• Enterprise software sector: PEGA was downgraded to Neutral at JP Morgan saying the company’s non-deal roadshow brought limited near-term positives, and the company did not explicitly suggest that close rates have already returned to normal.
• Ad tech sector: shares of MGNI, 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.
• Hardware & Components: VICR shares rise after the power-component maker announced a licensing agreement tied to its technology for high-performance artificial intelligence processors; SNAP announced partnerships with companies including CRM, NVDA and AMZN Web Services to integrate workplace Tools into its Specs augmented-reality glasses.

• GFS and MRVL announced an expanded multi-year agreement to increase capacity for GF’s silicon germanium (SiGe) technology at its Burlington, Vermont, facility to support growing demand for next-generation Optical connectivity.
• Huawei Technologies plans to launch two new AI chips in 2027 as it expands its AI computing business and challenges NVDA. Chairman David Wang said the 950DT is planned for Q1, followed by the Ascend 960PR in Q3, accelerating the previously disclosed roadmap for the Ascend 960.
• MU unveiled its new semiconductor assembly and test facility in Gujarat, India, to meet growing global demand for memory and storage driven by AI. The facility represents a combined investment of ~$2.75B by Micron and its government partners.
• ON recap from its Analyst Day: Increased its LT rev growth outlook to +12-14% (Auto +9% and Industrial +10%) vs prior model of +10-12%; Model implies $10+ in EPS in ’30; 2) GM target of 53% remains unchanged, but expected 55% with SYNA; 3) Sees Ai DC revs doubling to 1B in ’27 and reaching $2.5B in ’30 rep a 50% CAGR
• WOLF files for offering of up to 58,148,889 shares of common stock by the selling stockholders – SEC filing