Luca Moschini is the founder of SharperTrades, an investor and trading educator recognized by Nasdaq and NYSE. He created Market Edge and SteadyCapital, helping traders and investors make more informed market decisions.
Macro
September has historically delivered the weakest average returns for major U.S. stock indexes, but the 2026 setup is more complicated. Strong year-to-date performance, rising Treasury yields, low volatility and uncertainty over the Federal Reserve are creating competing signals.
Business Trends
Eli Lilly is acquiring Merida Biosciences for up to $2.875 billion, adding an early-stage precision-immunology platform as the drugmaker expands beyond obesity and diabetes. LLY shares moved lower as investors weighed the deal’s longer-term potential against its early development stage.
Earnings
SAIC shares gained after stronger Q2 revenue, earnings and organic growth led the government technology provider to raise its fiscal 2027 outlook, while contract timing and a second-half revenue headwind remain key parts of the story.
Business Trends
SLB’s $3.4 billion Kelvion acquisition adds thermal management to its fast-growing data center business, expanding its role beyond oilfield services as AI infrastructure investment accelerates.
Macro
Renewed U.S.-Iran strikes pushed Brent above $90 as constrained Gulf supply, shrinking inventories and wider geopolitical disruptions reinforced energy-driven inflation pressure and weighed on stocks.
Business Trends
Caterpillar’s record second quarter showed growth spreading across construction and power generation, while AI infrastructure, rental fleet demand and a $72 billion backlog are changing the drivers behind CAT’s expansion.
Economy
Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to run out of reserves in 2032, while federal debt has passed $40 trillion. The collision of rising retirement costs, interest expenses and demographic pressure is intensifying questions over who pays and how the system is repaired.
Innovation & Tech
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says annual revenue could reach roughly $3.5 trillion by 2033, while current results show both extraordinary AI growth and heavy capital demands. Alphabet’s much larger, profitable Google Cloud business provides a sharp comparison.
Macro
Oil ended the week sharply lower and gold dropped more than 2.7% as Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh reinforced inflation concerns. At the same time, improving Strait of Hormuz flows and a new U.S.-Venezuela oil agreement shifted the energy supply picture.
Macro
Nvidia, Salesforce, CrowdStrike and Elastic were rewarded for growth that strengthened forward expectations, while Marvell, Micron, Ulta, Autodesk and others showed how quickly markets punished results that left questions about what comes next.
Nvidia reinforced the AI boom, software demand strengthened, and the Fed kept inflation in focus as investors became increasingly selective.
Earnings
Elastic delivered stronger-than-expected fiscal Q1 results as AI adoption, record large-customer additions and rising contracted commitments strengthened its growth outlook. The company raised fiscal 2027 guidance as ESTC stock rallied sharply.