Weekly Market Recap – Week Ending August 14, 2026
U.S. equity markets advanced this week, with gains spread across most major ETFs and sector benchmarks. Energy (XLE) led the group with a strong 7.67% gain, while Dividend Equity (SCHD), Utilities (XLU), Communication Services (XLC), Consumer Staples (XLP), Technology (XLK), Small Caps (VB), and Health Care (XLV) also posted positive returns. The NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM) rose 1.11%, while the S&P 500 ETF (SPYM) gained 0.42%, indicating steady but selective market strength. Consumer Discretionary (XLY) and Materials (XLB) were the main laggards, while stock-specific momentum remained strong in selected technology, health care, mining, and AI infrastructure names, led by Everpure (P), Lenovo Group (LNVGY), Nebius Group (NBIS), MongoDB (MDB), Tenet Healthcare (THC), and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM).
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In the below tables we use major ETF’s as a proxy for some major indexes as well as each of the sector groups into which we divide the overall markets. Tracking these over time provides a more defined picture of the US markets than simply tracking major indexes. This is followed by notable individual stock movers over the past month, and finally our full strategy outlook.
| Ticker | Name | VE Rating | Last Week’s Close Price 08/07/2026 | Weekly Change 08/14/2027 |
| QQQM | Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF | 5 | 297.7 | 1.11% |
| SCHD | Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF | 2 | 33.9 | 1.83% |
| SPYM | State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF | 4 | 91.01 | 0.42% |
| VB | Vanguard Morningstar Small Cap ETF | 3 | 306.09 | 1.05% |
| XLB | State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF | 1 | 52.86 | -0.61% |
| XLC | State Street Com Svc Sel Sec SPDR ETF | 2 | 111.25 | 1.53% |
| XLE | State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 4 | 57.5 | 7.67% |
| XLF | State Street Financial Sel Sec SPDR ETF | 2 | 57.6 | 0.97% |
| XLI | State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF | 3 | 185.18 | 0.72% |
| XLK | State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF | 5 | 187.97 | 1.09% |
| XLP | State Street Consumer Staples Sel Sect SPDR ETF | 1 | 85.12 | 1.14% |
| XLRE | State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF | 1 | 44.98 | 0.64% |
| XLU | State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF | 1 | 43.61 | 1.61% |
| XLV | State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF | 3 | 165.68 | 1.02% |
| XLY | State Street Consumer Disc Sel Sect SPDR ETF | 1 | 119.86 | -1.38% |
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| Ticker | Name | VE Rating | Last Close Price | Price 30 Days Ago | Monthly Difference |
| LNVGY | Lenovo Group Ltd | 5 | 85.2 | 54.05 | 57.63% |
| NBIS | Nebius Group NV | 5 | 277.68 | 182.62 | 52.05% |
| AEM | Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd | 5 | 186.46 | 136.34 | 36.76% |
| Ticker | Name | VE Rating | Last Close Price | Price 30 Days Ago | Monthly Difference |
| P | Everpure Inc | 5 | 118.16 | 69.93 | 68.97% |
| MDB | Mongodb Inc | 4 | 460.33 | 323.36 | 42.36% |
| THC | Tenet Healthcare Corp | 5 | 267.9 | 194.38 | 37.82% |
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Strategy Note:
Two weeks into the second quarter, every major class of equities is doing well. The lowest expense ratio S&P 500 ETF SPYM, the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF, is up 4% with the Invesco Nasdaq-100 ETF, QQQM, up 6.3%. New flows into the US equity markets are the underlying reason as neither value nor growth stocks have been used as sources of funds for migration as we’ve seen in some other months this year. The Vanguard Value ETF (VTV) gained 3.4% while growth (VUG) did even better at 4.9%. The SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF (MDY) is up 4.5% while Small Cap iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) has risen 4.8%. Wealth has been distributed fairly evenly over the float-weighted market cap spectrum, requested ETFs posted positive returns.
Interestingly, although SPYM has had a much better-than-average first 7-1/2 months this year, up nearly 14%, it has under-performed almost all major classes of US equity ETFs. The exception is the mere 10% posted by growth-benchmark VUG. Leading the pack on a year-to-date basis is small-cap barometer IWM with a 24% gain, followed by VTV, the Vanguard Value ETF, and QQQM. Both are up 19%. It is counter-intuitive that the combination of investors rotating toward small cap and value followed by earnings-season jolts of large cap tech resulted in identical results for the Nasdaq-100 and large-cap value stocks. Both outperformed SPYM by 500 basis points (+5.00%). Midcap stocks were not far behind with an 18.9% gain by MDY. Year-to-date, the two major categories of foreign stocks also outperformed SPYM. IShares MSCI Emerging markets ETF (EEM) gained 21.8% while Vanguard FTSE All-World Ex-US gained 17.2%. If these trends persist, it would make the second straight year that the major non-US stock benchmarks have outperformed the S&P 500 Index after more than a decade of near-relentless under-performance.
The first half of August did have one major reversal with respect to the first seven months of 2026. Gold bullion, as measured by lowest-cost ETF GLDM, outgained all of the above ETFs during the period and gained more than 8%. This brought the precious metal’s year-to-date return into positive territory for the first time this year.
Now that the vast majority of companies have reported, investors may return their focus to rotation out of large-cap tech into value and small cap again. There is no guarantee of that. Another possibility is that the market will go into a historical pattern of relative under-performance between the beginning of the third week of August and the second week of October.
There is a lot of cautious sentiment being expressed by investment strategists. The most interesting evidence of investors needing to be in the market yet cautious at the same time probably is the tremendous expansion of the buffered/defined outcome and covered call and options-income ETF markets. There are now 502 US-listed ETFs in the former category and 551 in the latter. These categories of ETFs allow investors to hedge their bets against market declines in two distinct ways. Buffered ETFs essentially can be thought of as stop-loss products where investors are willing to accept a cap to the market’s upside, along with somewhat higher fees, in order to have a fund managed to accept no more than a certain percentage loss during the next 12 months. Covered-call and options-income ETFs provide well-above-average monthly dividend yields but limit capital appreciation. The idea is that when the index declines, the income earned will offset the capital loss of the ETF price.
Goldman Sachs (GS) recently engaged in two purchases making its mark in both these markets. Following its completed acquisition of Innovator Capital Management (which added 171 defined-outcome/buffer ETFs) and its pending agreement to acquire NEOS Investments (which adds 19 options-income/covered-call ETFs), Goldman Sachs controls 171 defined-outcome and buffered ETFs (via Innovator) and 19 covered-call/options-income ETFs (via NEOS, pending close in early 2027). This is alongside its own legacy products. Prior to that, JP Morgan made a big splash in options income in 2022 by launching JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) and JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPQ). Both of these ETFs now have between $30 and $50 billion is assets. In contrast, the longtime category leader in terms of assets, Global X Nasdaq-100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD) has less than $10 billion is assets in its 17th year of existence.
Despite Goldman’s impressive entry into the defined outcome market, the top five ETFs by assets are all sponsored by First Trust in its FT Vest series. This is led by more than $10 billion in BUFR, the FT Vest Laddered Buffer ETF.
Our main take-away from all of this is that the crash of fixed income funds in 2022 has shaken the faith of investors, especially those nearing or in retirement, in traditional 60-40-style asset allocation. Specifically in the belief that 40% in fixed income can provide positive ballast when equity markets go south. Defined Outcome and buffered ETFs address the maximum-acceptable-loss issue explicitly. Options-income ETF provide income in hand that can offset potential losses. Together, strategic investing has been moving towards these two ETF options and away from traditional asset allocation since 2022 and the trend has only been accelerating throughout 2026.
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