RBC's Markets in Motion

The big things you need to know:First, takeaways from last week’s meetings with Australia-based investors, in which our conversations focused on inflation / interest rates / the Fed, the US midterm elections, and the rotation trade.Second, key big-picture themes in last week’s S&P 500 earnings calls included a cautiously optimistic tone among companies, consumer descriptions that seemed a little more complicated than usual, a renewed conversation on Iran war impacts, heightened attention to inflation pressures, and increasingly specific commentary from non-Tech companies about AI impacts.Third, other things that jump out in our weekly updates include the recent spike in gold prices (which has occurred alongside a drop in presidential approval), recent improvements in the 2Q26 S&P 500 EPS growth rate (which now appears to be the peak), and recent developments in sector funds flows (where Consumer flows have turned positive and Tech flows have stayed positive, among other trends).

The big things you need to know:First, the stats for 2Q26 reporting season have continued to come in mixed, arguing for selectivity rather than a leadership rotation, in our view.Second, last week’s earnings commentary from S&P 500 companies reiterated the themes of resiliency and AI tailwinds, but didn’t give us much insight on how to think about recent war developments.Third, we review how we’re thinking about the role of the retail investor in today’s US equity market, which differs in some respects from the past, and how we’re monitoring risks on this front.Fourth, other things that jump out in our updates this week include the return of S&P 500 Semi & Semi Equipment valuations to average levels and the bright spots we’re seeing in our quant work on Japan.