GS Equities Color US EQUITIES COLOR COUNTDOWN TO FOMC 15 Sep 2026

GS Jeter - US EQUITIES COLOR COUNTDOWN TO FOMC 15 Sep 2026 Mitch Jeter · Goldman Sachs · Analyst, FICC & Equities Tue 15 Sep 2026, 5:03pm ET

S&P -45bps closing @ 7,585 w/ a MOC of $1.45B to SELL. NDX -65bps @ 28,937, R2K -76bps 2,870, and Dow -63bps @ 52,093. 15.961bn shares traded across all US equity exchanges vs ytd daily avg of 18.708.bn shares. VIX +58bps @ 17.2, WTI Crude +443bps @ $105.9, US 10YR +0.021bps @ 5.0081%, gold -11bps @ 4,295, dxy +26bps @ 99.65 and Bitcoin -415bps @ $75,806

US equities finished modestly lower at the index levels with Oil / Rates continuing to dominate the conversation ahead of the FOMC meeting tomorrow at 2pm. WTI crude up 4.4% breaching above $105/barrel after Saudi Arabia suspended Yanbu shipments / canceled some September loadings, latest Libya suspension, and Houthi momentum. Yields rose above 5% again today after briefly touching that level yesterday for first time since 2023. All eyes to the FOMC meeting tomorrow, with odds of a hike sitting >90% and the market pricing in two hikes through year end. Energy (GSXUENRG +2.7%) squeezing alongside oil/fuel prices today, weighing on sentiment and hurting the consumer space. Poor breadth continues to be a storyline as 344 names in the S&P500 finished down on the day.

The AI trade showed some stabilization today (although still de-grossy) amid more pushback against any shift in the compute/capex demand narrative. NVDA CEO Huang challenged the latest comments mentioning that you can innovate quickly and safely, while AVGO CEO also downplayed concerns about slowdown in frontier AI model development on the semi business. Megacap tech finished mostly lower with AMZN the standout underperformer (lower in 6 of the last 7 sessions).

Our desk was a 3/10 from an activity level perspective, finishing -740bps better for sale. Asset managers finished $454mm better for sale with supply in macro products, and tech vs. small demand in comm. services, financials, and consumer discretionary. Hedge Funds finished relatively flat with supply in Consumer discretionary and financials vs. small demand in consumer staples and macro products.

GS Consumer Conference Day 2 Quick Thoughts (TY Scott Feiler):

The Consumer: The most used word by most companies was "resilient." It was the opening comment from the biggest retailer here (WMT). It was the same form V/MA at Communicopia last week. Despite the really negative price action the last month, I do not think investors are super bearish the health of the consumer. It more feels investors are more bearish they can make money being long consumer. I simply am hearing much more about "relative growth vs other sectors" than ever before. However, the Big Question: Most companies sounded "fine," "good" or "resilient." Does it matter? It hasn't yet. The issue is that this is driving a bit of a collective shoulder shrug. Why? Source: Goldman Sachs FICC & Equities, as of 15 September 2026. Authors: Mitch Jeter, Ariana Contessa, Lilly Belt, Mike Washington.