There is something unusual about this earnings season. Companies do not appear to have a demand problem. Increasingly, they are facing the opposite issue.
On 25 August 2026, a Chinese humanoid robot ran 100 metres in 8.86 seconds, faster than the fastest recorded human time, and then hit the padded finish barrier and fell. Three days earlier, at the same competition, another robot hit the barrier at the finish line and caught fire, unable either to stop itself or to put itself out. The first set of facts explains why investors have been piling into Chinese robotics stocks. The second explains why that enthusiasm may be running ahead of what the machines can actually do.
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There is something unusual about this earnings season. Companies do not appear to have a demand problem. Increasingly, they are facing the opposite issue.
On 25 August 2026, a Chinese humanoid robot ran 100 metres in 8.86 seconds, faster than the fastest recorded human time, and then hit the padded finish barrier and fell. Three days earlier, at the same competition, another robot hit the barrier at the finish line and caught fire, unable either to stop itself or to put itself out. The first set of facts explains why investors have been piling into Chinese robotics stocks. The second explains why that enthusiasm may be running ahead of what the machines can actually do.
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Major U.S. stock indexes finished the week narrowly mixed as investors weighed renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities, rising oil prices, a better-than-expected jobs report, and shifting Federal Reserve monetary policy expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.27%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.40%. The S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 indexes were little changed. Growth stocks outperformed their value counterparts by the widest margin in a month. Within the S&P 500, the energy sector posted the strongest gains as oil prices rose amid renewed Middle East tensions. Treasury yields moved higher alongside oil prices, with the 10-year reaching roughly 4.82% intraday on Wednesday before retracing somewhat on Thursday after Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he would be inclined to keep rates unchanged if incoming data confirm that disinflation is continuing.
With rising chances of rate hikes, short-term rates rise while long-term rates stabilize
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