End of Week Market Intelligence: what goes up...

Research evidence excerpt

End of Week Market Intelligence: what goes up...

Equity Research

17 July 2026 | 1:47PM EDT

US stocks are trading lower Friday and on pace for a ~1 loss for the week (for the S&P Chris Hussey

+1(212)902-7564 |

500 as of Friday at 1:05PM) as a strong batch of sentiment surveys (both consumer chris.hussey@gs.com

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

and industrial) and a benign inflation print failed to overcome a continuing sell-off in

Sarah Herr

semis and other AI infrastructure stocks that has now driven a 20% decline in the +1(212)357-0094 | sarah.herr@gs.com

SOX since it peaked less than a month ago on Jun-22. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

... must come down?

In 1968, the band Blood Sweat & Tears released the hit song Spinning Wheels, with

the iconic line: ‘What goes up, must come down.’ Coincidentally (perhaps), in November

of that year, the S&P 500 would reach a level that it would not consistently eclipse

again until 12 years later, in June of 1980 — as stocks lived through an epic bear

market against a backdrop of US de-industrialization, a prolonged energy crisis, and

significantly elevated inflation (inflation peaked at 15% in 1980).

Fast forward almost 60 years from 1968, and the world is in a very different place

(perhaps). Some characteristics of the 1968-1980 era have re-emerged, including an

energy crisis and elevated inflation. But the severity of both pales in comparison to

the gas lines and price controls we saw in the 1970s. And so far, most believe that

these issues will be transitory and not persist for a dozen years as they did back then.

Also interestingly, the de-industrialization of the 1970s is finally being met with

efforts to re-industrialize the heartland with the help of Depression-era high tariffs

coupled with direct government investment in targeted sectors.