GS Novak Industrials and Materials Weekend

GS U.S. Industrials & Materials Weekend Edition Ryan Novak · Goldman Sachs · US Industrials & Materials Sun 16 Aug 2026, 12:04pm ET

Hope this finds you well and enjoying the beautiful weather across the Northeast or wherever August may have taken you. This week should really start the dog days of Summer with a few notable exceptions – decently heavy macro data points this week – housing a slew of new data, regional PMIs and the Fed minutes, a broad scope of large cap consumer earnings including HD LOW TJX WMT and a few off cycle bellwether prints across industrials & materials including DE, TOL and KEYS. Let us know how we can help if you are in your seat or on the beach. Spending a lot of time reviewing Q2 with folks, discussing subsector outlooks and where the puck is going for the long only investment community – reach out to discuss.

GS marketing – quite a few corporates on the road this week – let me know where you would like to follow up. 1. BCC CFO & others in NY Tuesday – group lunch has a few seats if you would like to join. 2. HAWK CEO & CFO in NY Tuesday (Boston, Denver on each side) 3. ALGT CFO in Boston midweek. 4. CSL we’ll have the full suite for a virtual group meeting Thursday at 12pm ET. Let me know where your interest is.

GS prime data – observations: HFs net bought US equities every day this week and at the second fastest pace in the past year (+2.1 SDs), led by long buys in Single Stocks and to a lesser extent short covers in Macro Products. Macro Products (Index and ETF combined) made up ~30% of the total net buying (+1.0 SDs 1-year), driven by short covers and long buys (1.4 to 1). US-listed ETF shorts decreased for a 6th straight week by -3% (-12% month/month), led by covering in Small Cap Equity, Tech, and Large Cap Equity ETFs partially offset by shorting in Real Estate, LatAM, and Health Care ETFs. Single Stocks made up ~70% of the total net buying (+2.1 SDs 1-year), driven by long buys and to a much lesser extent short covers (7.6 to 1). 8 of 11 sectors were net bought, led in $ terms by Info Tech, Comm Svcs, Health Care, Financials, and Staples, while Real Estate, Energy, and Utilities were net sold, which suggests a pro- cyclical stance. Regrossing is occurring more in macro products and surprise buying in materials – follow through from last week.