Midday Market Intelligence: broader?

Research evidence excerpt

Equity Research

18 August 2026 | 12:54PM EDT

Midday Market Intelligence: broader?

US stocks are trading lower Tuesday (at the index level) as most Mega-cap Tech

stocks come under pressure amidst the on-again/off-again confidence in the

sustainability of the AI trade (no concrete catalyst today, however), and as investors

react to a weak Housing Starts report this morning.

for now...

Chris Hussey

+1(212)902-7564 |

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Sarah Herr

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Kshitij Garg

Goldman Sachs India SPL

While the broadly S&P 500 Index is down today, the equal weighted version of the

index is actually UP as 60% of the index’s constituents are trading UP on the day.

Ben Snider discussed how fundamental earnings performance is broadening out in

last Friday’s Kickstart, “What Q2 earnings reports signaled about the state of

corporate AI adoption.” For 2Q26, the median stock in the S&P 500 saw earnings

growth of 14% yoy. This broader fundamental performance appears to be playing

out to stock performance, as well. Year-to-date, the equal weighted S&P 500 is

outperforming the market weighted index.

Focus on: Housing. Also today, investors are digesting a trio of housing data points

that paint an interesting picture of perhaps the country’s most troubled sector.

1. Weak starts. July Housing Starts — a proxy for real-time homebuilding activity —

fell 12.4% yoy, well below expectations (see “USA: Housing Starts Decline;

Industrial Production Below Expectations; Core Import Prices Above

Expectations; Estimating 0.20% for July Core PCE”). Single-family housing

starts—the component relevant for GDP tracking—fell 9.9% to the lowest level

since November 2022.

2. Better permits. July Building Permits — a proxy for future homebuilding activity,

perhaps — INCREASED 5.0%.

3. People still shopping at Home Depot. HD reported 2Q26 EPS 4% above

consensus driven by better same-store sales of 1.7% yoy writes Kate McShane in

“HD: First Take: 2Q26 beat; FY26 guidance reaffirmed.” The stronger sales were

driven by shoppers paying more for perhaps more stuff, however, as total

customer transactions actually decreased -1.0% yoy.

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