Mid-Morning Look: June 24, 2026

Mid-Morning Look

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

U.S. stocks open higher after technology shares pressured the Nasdaq on Tuesday, falling -2% as chip stocks fell ahead of Micron (MU) earnings tonight. Artificial-intelligence stocks tried bouncing overnight as investors looked to “buy the dip” after pressure amid worries about leverage in the market and the prospect of higher interest rates. The “Magnificent Seven” plus Broadcom (AVGO) and Oracle (ORCL) have lost roughly $2.7 trillion in market value in June, according to Yahoo Finance analysis, as investors take a harder look at the companies funding the AI build-out. In a note getting attention this morning, Deutsche Bank suggested a surge in capital spending is sparking concerns along several dimensions. One key to the Wall Street firm’s outlook for equities is whether the CAPEX will crowd out buybacks, the largest component of its demand-supply framework and a significant driver of equity return. Capex is indeed surging, mainly driven by a narrow group of big hyperscalers and five of those (AMZN, MSFT, GOOGL, META, ORCL) are responsible for two-thirds of the increase in capex over the last two years. S&P 500 buybacks rose to a record $300B in Q1 ($1.2 trillion annualized) on a gross basis and to a record $270 billion on a net basis.

Few sector standouts today, oil prices tumbling to lowest levels since early March, as WTI crude falls under $70 per barrel hitting energy stocks; homebuilders surging on Congress bill and better margin comments from KBH after mixed results last night; memory stocks opened higher but quickly slipped ahead of MU earnings tonight; precious metal miners (CDE, NEM, HL) tumble behind a sharp decline in gold/silver prices as the dollar hits 16-molnth high on rising rate hike expectations. Banks are in focus ahead of The Federal Reserve results of its latest stress test on Wednesday of 32 banks. Back to housing, big winners this morning as the House passes sweeping bill to lower housing costs by big margin vote 358-32 after Senate passed it 85-5 to help funding to build; empowers local gov’ts to streamline reviews; restricts Wall Street from buying up homes.

The US dollar extends its gains, with the DXY up at 101.70 at 13-month highs (May 2025) and the euro dipping to lows of 1.134, more than 1-year lows as expectations of a U.S. rate hike continued to build, with Fed officials sounding increasingly hawkish as the economy remains strong. The stronger dollar continues to weigh on metals as gold tumbles to $4,000 and silver prices hit 28-week lows of $60 an ounce. U.S. Treasury yields fell as oil prices slid to a four-month low, while investors continued to weigh the likelihood of Federal Reserve rate hikes later this year (2-yr -5bps to 4.15% and 10-yr -7bps to 4.42%). Shorter-dated Treasury yields have climbed since Fed policymakers signaled last week that they expect to raise borrowing costs later this year. US 30-year Treasury yields drop to 4.8572%, lowest since April 15

• May single-family home sales 580K unit annual rate, below consensus 639K, falling -7.3%. US May home sales Northeast +3.0%, Midwest +16.2%, South -4.1%, West -26.9% as new home supply 10.3 months’ worth at current pace vs April 9.3 months. US homes for sale at end of May 0.496M unit’s vs April 0.485M units and median sale price $424,900 unchanged on a y/y basis (vs. May 2025 $424,800).

• In Chemicals: UBS said the announcement of a potential resolution in the Middle East resulted in a further sell-off of plastics producers. UBS estimates for DOW, LYB and WLK reflect a peak for PetChem pricing in Q2 with pricing beginning to ease in Q3 and normalizing into 2027. Consultants now model PE price declines in Q3 (PE down 18 CPP vs down 6 CPP prior), which could be ~16%/13%/10% downside to DOW vs Q3 consensus said UBS. Citigroup said ECL top pick in Specialty chems and gases preview and Overweight LIN vs Underweight APD pair trade initiated. The firm also cut targets in the commodity chemicals group (CE, DOW, EMN, LYB, WLK) citing pricing pressure from expectations for a Middle East peace agreement. Citi reduced estimates across the group to reflect the crude oil and chemical supply environment as well as a weaker outlook for spreads.
• In Steel sector: WOR shares tumbled on earnings results as Q4 adj EPS $0.97 misses the $1.06 est.; Q4 revs rose 17% Y/y to $371.5M vs. est. $386.5M; Q4 adj EBITDA $83.5M; Keybanc refreshes its 2026 outlook on U.S. Carbon Steel equities post recent pre-quiet period discussions with companies under coverage and its Q226 proprietary Sheet on the Street survey. Given the refreshed pricing deck, its estimated changes are largely positive, with an intact view of nicely improved Y/y profitability for the sector. The firm upgraded NUE to overweight on a stronger 2H26 outlook, while it is maintaining its OWs and increasing price targets on both RS (to $418 from $378) and STLD (to $262 from $241) on higher estimates.

• CCXI +19%; shares jumped after the company will take Agility Robotics public, ticker AGLT, in a deal valuing the startup at about $2.5B; expected to generate over $600M in gross proceeds, per report, including $420M cash from Churchill Xi and a private investment in public equity of over $200M led by Foxconn.
• FCEL +3%; as the renewable power company and Fit Energy USA announced a strategic agreement for up to 380 megawatts of clean, baseload on-site power for data centers, using FCEL’s utility-scale fuel cell technology. Under the arrangement, Fit Energy will be eligible to receive warrants tied to future deployment milestones of up to 380 MW.
• INMD +10%; confirmed an unsolicited takeover offer from M.N. Business Strategy, a group backed by the company’s CEO and co-founder, Moshe Mizrahy, in a proposed deal indicated an offer price of $16.20 per share.
• KBH +16%; reported Q2 EPS and orders below the Street, but shares bounced amid details on margin recover; Q2 revs fell -27% y/y to $1.1B but topped consensus of $1.1B as Revenue and profitability fell mainly due to a 23% y/y decrease in homes delivered but sees sequentially higher delivery volumes and gross margins in final two quarters.
• RUN +22%; after saying it is partnering with TSLA and Renew Home to deliver more than 16 GW of flexible energy capacity to hyperscalers and utilities.
• TOST +5%; will replace BLD in the S&P MidCap 400 effective prior to the opening of trading on Wednesday, July 1 as QXO is acquiring TopBuild in a deal expected to close soon, pending final closing conditions.
• WEN +30%; early jump with Barron’s noting a slew of posts on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum.

• FDX -2%; reported a beat on top and bottom line but operating margin in FedEx’s Federal Express segment fell to 7.7% from 8.4% y/y as costs climbed for employee salaries and benefits as well as outsourced transportation and fuel/falls on margin concerns as investors weigh freight spinoff impact.
• HL -4%; Precious metal sector falls both prices of gold and silver tumbled yet again, with gold dropping below $4,000 an ounce as the US dollar hits 52-week highs and Treasury yields remain elevated following the FOMC policy meeting last week which indicated the improved chances of a Fed rate hike this year to slow inflation. Shares of gold/silver miners AG, AEM, B, CDE, NEM, PAAS, WPMwere all broadly lower.
• HTZ -27%; announced a private offering of $300M exchangeable PIK notes due 2030; a portion of the interest to be paid in cash and in form of PIK (“payment-in-kind”) interest and also commences separate public offering of $100M shares; said unexpected softness in the used car market caused it to realize losses on vehicle sales in May compared to gains in Apr, and now sees adj EBITDA of $50-$80M, near the lower end of previous Q2 guidance
• WOR -7%; shares tumbled on earnings results as Q4 adj EPS $0.97 misses the $1.06 est.; Q4 revs rose 17% Y/y to $371.5M vs. est. $386.5M; Q4 adj EBITDA $83.5M