Global Weekly Equities Report - October 16, 2026

Executive Summary

Reporting period: Monday 12 – Friday 16 October 2026.

The artificial-intelligence trade cracked. Information Technology fell 7.70%, the Nasdaq 4.48% — its largest weekly decline since June — and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed lower for eight consecutive sessions, its longest losing streak since 2008. The trigger was September CPI on Wednesday: headline inflation at 3.7% and core at 0.3% on the month and 2.6% on the year, each a tenth above consensus.

What makes this a rotation rather than a sell-off is what rose. The Dow gained 0.67%, its second consecutive weekly advance, and the equal-weighted S&P 500 rose 0.49% while the cap-weighted index fell 1.97% — a 2.46 percentage point gap in favour of the average stock, and the second week running that breadth improved. Consumer Staples rose 5.02% and Energy 4.86%; the spread between

the best and worst sector was 12.7 points.

The bond market disagreed with the equity narrative. Despite a hot inflation print, the ten-year Treasury fell 15 basis points to 5.09% and the thirty-year 17 to 5.43%, a bull flattening that narrowed the two-to-ten spread from 44 to 35 basis points. That is duration being bid as a haven, not an inflation repricing. The VIX rose 34.70% to 19.99, finally breaking a seven-week range between 14.8 and 16.4.