Midday Market Intelligence: cake

Research evidence excerpt

Midday Market Intelligence: cake

Goldman Sachs Midday Market Intelligence

Pipeline Hedge”).

Focus on: Banks. Also today, we got 2Q26 earnings results from a slew of big banks,

including JPM, BAC, Citi, and WFC. Big bank revenue beat expectations for 2Q, driven by

exceptional strength across capital markets, especially ECM and equities trading, as well

as strong investment banking activity, writes Richard Ramsden in “JPM: 2Q26 First Take,”

“BAC: 2Q26 First Take,” “C: 2Q26 First Take,” and “WFC: 2Q26 First Take.” Credit quality

also remains solid across the group, but there was some divergence when it came to the

outlook for Net Interest Income (NII), with JPM raising its full year NII guidance, while Citi,

BAC, and WFC maintained their guide. WFC and Citi also highlighted intensifying

competition for deposits.

Focus on: Government health insurance. Finally today, the country’s largest hospital

chain — HCA — preannounced results and Scott Fidel captures the highlights in “HCA

First Take.” The news from HCA was mixed and the stock reaction has been negative

(down 7% today). The quarter was solid with revenue coming in 4% above consensus

and EBITDA beating consensus by almost 2%. But HCA lowered its full year 2026

guidance to reflect a larger-than-expected negative impact from health insurance

exchange market membership losses and payer mix deterioration. Essentially, HCA is

having to treat more uninsured patients as these individuals fall off of Medicaid and

Obamacare support in the wake of Federal and State funding changes. Fidel continues

to prefer the Managed Care companies that supplement Medicare, Medicaid, and

Obamacare programs for the government over the hospitals that need to collect

payments for services, as he detailed in “Healthcare Services 2Q26 Preview.”