Mid-Morning Look: September 29, 2026

Mid-Morning Look

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

U.S. stocks were mostly flattish overnight in futures trading, but are now down slightly to start the day, extending prior day losses as Treasury yields remain higher. The Treasury 30-year yield rises to 5.59%, new high since 2004, and the benchmark 10-yr yield at 5.25%, raising inflation fears and concerns of future rate hikes by the Fed. Oil prices are pulling back slightly today, but higher energy prices/diesel remain a real headwind for consumers and the economy with no apparent end in sight for the U.S. and Iran war. Market breadth has been weak with significantly higher 52-week lows vs. 52-week highs in recent weeks as investors pullback on some year to date winners. Gold prices bounce off 7-week lows around the $4,200 level and crypto assets also bouncing. Media reports of the details about Anthropic’s public offering bolstered sentiment towards technology stocks, while Axios reports OpenAI’s annual recurring revenue nears $70B as AI sector remains a key for Wall Street. Sept Consumer Confidence index tumbles to 81.9 (below consensus 89.2), its lowest level since 2014.

• 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%).

• Food & Beverage sector: Lindt & Spruengli (CHLSY) cut its 2026 sales forecast for the second time this year saying Europeans bought less chocolate as temperatures broke records across the continent; now expects organic sales growth of 0% to 2% in 2026, down from its earlier 4% to 6% range. PEP was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan saying tracked channel and recent price increase announcements indicate PepsiCo’s trends in North America have likely continued to underperform management expectations.
• AI Sector: 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.

• GLW +4%; as 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
• IOVA +24%; 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.
• KMX +8%; 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%.
• NFLX +2%; 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.
• PWP +11%; after the WSJ reported Piper Sandler (PIPR) has been in talks to combine with advisory firm Perella Weinberg Partners. https://tinyurl.com/5ab942hz
• SMMT +6%; after announced agreements with AZN for a $2B strategic equity investment in SMMT, and clinical collaborations to evaluate ivonescimab (ivo; PD-1xVEGF bispecific) and CLDN18.2-targeting antibody drug conjugate sonesitatug vedotin (sone-ve) in gastrointestinal cancers, alongside additional ivo combination trials with AZN medicines, including ADCs.
• SSTI +52%; 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.
• STAA +8%; was upgraded to Buy from Hold 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

• MDB -2%; 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.
• NEOG -5%; after FDA warns Neogen over contaminated “sterile” vet product tied to record horse deaths; cites insanitary manufacturing, quality-oversight failures.
• QURE -36%; 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.