C1W - Market Commentary: 2nd Qtr 2026

• Equities: Markets advanced in Q2 as earnings and AI-related spending remained supportive, though leadership stayed narrow and increasingly concentrated in semiconductors, memory, and other companies tied to the AI buildout.

• Fixed Income: Bonds stabilized in Q2, but the policy backdrop grew less comfortable as the June Fed meeting reinforced a firmer inflation focus under new Chair Kevin Warsh. Markets moved to price a more hawkish path, while the ECB also raised rates and signaled that energy-driven inflation pressures were beginning to broaden, leaving fixed income supported by income but still sensitive to policy and inflation surprises.

• Broader Markets: Some of the year’s most crowded inflation and debasement trades reversed in Q2, with commodities, oil, and gold pulling back as oil-shock fears eased and the dollar firmed. The move suggested a rotation away from first-quarter hedges and back toward growth-sensitive and AI-linked assets, even as macro risks remained in view.