Paid Subscriber – Quant portfolios stage a strong rebound – Update 08/17/26

Oil Refining Outlook If Oil Stays Above $80 for Six Months

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• Quant Weekly – Up over 80% since June 2025

• Quant 30 – Up over 76% since June 2025

• Legacy – Up over 350% since April 2023

• No changes to the main Quant Portfolios

• Top Quant Stocks – Top 10 Industrials

• Education – Oil Refining Outlook If Oil Stays Above $80 for Six Months

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USA Stock market week ending 08/14/26

• SPY (S&P 500 ETF): +0.4% — The S&P 500 posted a modest weekly gain, extending its recent advance.

• ^IXIC (Nasdaq Composite): +0.1% — The Nasdaq was essentially flat for the week, finishing with a small gain.

• DIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF): -0.5% — The Dow declined modestly and underperformed the broader market.

• IWM (Russell 2000 ETF): +1.2% — Small-cap stocks outperformed the major large-cap indexes during the week.

• SPMO (Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF): +2.4% — Momentum stocks were the strongest performer among the indexes and ETFs tracked here.

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Market Drivers this Week (08/17/26 – 08/21/26)

Monday, 8/17 — Manufacturing and Housing Sentiment

• Empire State Manufacturing Survey for August is released at 8:30 AM ET, providing an early regional read on manufacturing activity.

• NAHB Housing Market Index for August follows at 10:00 AM ET, offering a gauge of homebuilder sentiment.

• The earnings calendar is relatively light, with Fabrinet (FN) and XPeng (XPEV) among the companies reporting.

Tuesday, 8/18 — Heavy Economic Data and Home Depot

• Housing Starts and Building Permits for July, along with Import and Export Price Indexes, are released at 8:30 AM ET.

• Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for July follow at 9:15 AM ET, providing an important look at manufacturing activity.

• Pending Home Sales for July are released at 10:00 AM ET, adding another measure of housing demand.

Wednesday, 8/19 — Major Retail Earnings and Fed Minutes

• Target (TGT), Lowe’s (LOW), TJX Companies (TJX), and Estée Lauder (EL) report earnings, creating a significant consumer/retail earnings day.

• The Federal Reserve releases minutes from its July meeting, an important event for investors assessing the Fed’s thinking on interest rates.

Thursday, 8/20 — Jobs, Manufacturing and Consumer Earnings

• Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims provide the latest look at labor-market conditions.

• The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for July is released at 10:00 AM ET and provides a broader gauge of the economy’s forward direction.

• Walmart (WMT), Alibaba (BABA), Deere (DE), and Ross Stores (ROST) report earnings, giving investors additional insight into consumers, retail and industrial demand.

Friday, 8/21 — Flash PMI Data

• S&P Global Flash Manufacturing, Services and Composite PMIs for August are released, providing the first major broad reading of current-month business activity.

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The CNN Fear and Greed Index ends the week at 65, in the Greed area for the 2nd week in a row. It looks like the beginning of a bullish trend and the stock market has been very healthy the last two weeks.

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The Quant Model Portfolios were up substantially this week. The Quant Weekly is now up 80% and Quant 30 up 76% since their start in the middle of last year. Beaten down Momentum stocks are making a strong rebound. I hope my subscribers took advantage of the depressed stock prices at the end of July to add to positions.