Mid-Morning Look: June 26, 2026

Mid-Morning Look

Friday, June 26, 2026

U.S. stocks are mixed again as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are on track for weekly declines as chipmakers came under renewed selling pressure after a stellar run this quarter, with investors questioning high valuations and the repercussions of massive AI spending by companies. This morning the SPY traded below its 50dma support while the QQQs near its 50dma around $702.75 but have since bounced notably off lows. AI supply chain/semiconductors slipped after the New York Times reported that OpenAI is reportedly considering delaying its IPO until 2027 from a prior Q3/Q4 2026 target amid continued heavy spending, rising competition, and a less supportive equity backdrop, raising fresh questions around the pace of AI infrastructure investment. Separately, a report in The Information said OpenAI will reportedly roll out GPT-5.6 in phases, with select customers receiving early access, following requests from Washington amid growing scrutiny of advanced AI model releases. Other concerns remain inflation and rate hikes after data Thursday showed U.S. inflation (PCE) rose above 4% in May for the first time in three years, boosted by higher energy prices, keeping the possibility of a Fed rate hike alive.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average comes into the day at all-time highs 9extending gains early), boosted lately by shares of CAT, financials and healthcare while Smallcaps have held up very well. Overnight, President Trump said the Strait of Hormuz was open and that the US would buy wheat, corn and soybeans with Iranian funds, but the bounce was short-lived as Asian markets tumbled (Nikkie, Shanghai, Kospi) as tech sentiment soured. Bitcoin slips back below $60,000 this week as U.S. stock futures fall driven by losses in tech stocks (Bitcoin reached a 21-month low of $58,075 Thursday).

A key item today, The FTSE Russell indices will undergo their semi-annual rebalancing after markets close today. The rebalancing will impact $6 trillion of active and passive assets under management benchmarked to the major Russell indices, according to strategists at JPMorgan Asset Management. The event will result in lots of companies moving between indexes. Most notably, SpaceX is among those set to be added to the Russell 1000. Updated indices will go live Monday. Overall, 43 companies are expected to graduate from the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks to the Russell 1000 large-cap index.

• University of Michigan surveys of consumers 1-year inflation outlook final June 4.6% vs prelim 4.6% and final May 4.8% while 5-year inflation outlook final June 3.3% vs prelim 3.4% and final May 3.9%.

• In Chemicals: German chemicals group Evonik Industries (EVKIY) raised its full-year profit outlook after posting Q2 results that beat expectation; now sees 2026 adj EBITDA between EU2.0B ($2.28B) and EU2.2B, up from a previously forecast range of EU1.7B-2B; said Q2 adj EBITDA is expected to come in at between EU600M-650M, above views of about EU567M, driven by higher volumes and prices as well as ongoing cost cuts. Shares of US related comps include DD, EMN, ASH, HUN, CBT. FUL was upgraded to Overweight at JP Morgan as the firm thinks lower oil prices and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz are likely to minimize or lower H.B. Fuller’s raw material cost pressure in 2027.
• In Aerospace: SPCX told investors that it plans to launch a new Starlink mobile service for U.S. consumers, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell told investors during an IPO roadshow that the group was considering launching a Starlink retail product. The company could build its own terrestrial US mobile network. The move would require Starlink to sell mobile contracts to individual customers. RKLB shares bounced after NASA selected Rocket Lab to provide the launch service for both the agency’s PolSIR (Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer) and Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 (TSIS-2) missions.

• APOG +14%; on results as Q1 EPS $0.57 vs. est. $0.45 and revs fell -1% y/y to $342.68M but topped ests $333.8M; reaffirmed fiscal 2027expectce and expects Kalwall acquisition to close in July; said overall net sales declined due to lower volume, with higher material and freight costs impacting margins.
• CROX +5%; was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral and raised to $150 saying its North America DTC inflected to MSD in Q126 (best since Q224), and compares ease remainder of the year, Heydude is seeing green shoots in DTC, EPS estimates are upwardly biased.
• FCEL +20%; was upgraded to Buy at Jefferies with $24 tgt after Fit Energy data center deal saying the setup has materially shifted from “show me” to executing on visible backlog, while a deep valuation discount to BE creates an asymmetric entry point.
• INFQ +7%; initiated at Outperform and $20 tgt at Wedbush saying it is the only company commercializing the entire neutral-atom stack across Computing, sensing, and software from one shared technology core, and the only publicly traded neutral-atom pure-play.
• RKLB +4%; shares bounced after NASA selected Rocket Lab to provide the launch service for both the agency’s PolSIR (Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer) and Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 (TSIS-2) missions.

• CAPR -13%; after the U.S. FDA scheduled an advisory committee meeting to discuss the company’s marketing application for Deramiocel, a treatment targeting Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
• MSTR -2%; on track for its lowest level in more than two years. The stock slumped about 8% Thursday and comes into Friday with a seven-day losing streak, its worst seven-day losing streak since November 2022.
• OMER -18%; shares fell after saying the European Medicines Agency’s key panel issued a negative opinion on its application for its drug narsoplimab to treat transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy (TA-TMA); OMER to request a re-examination of the opinion and review by an independent expert group.
• ON -19%; agreed to be acquire SYNA in an all-stock transaction, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $7B; SYNA shareholders to receive 1.35 shares of onsemi for each Synaptics share held.
• SFTBY -8%; shares of Softbank tumbled following NYT report that OpenAI is considering pushing its highly anticipated public debut into next year; potential postponement threatens to delay a massive liquidity event for the company’s major financial backers.