Thursday, August 27, 2026

QNTM Day Wrap — Wednesday, August 27, 2026

The model portfolio returned +0.64% today, essentially matching SPY's +0.66% — a rare close-to-flat relative day in a session that was anything but flat under the surface.

What drove it: The S&P 500 rose while the average constituent fell, with one company adding roughly $435bn in market cap. That company was Nvidia, which leaped 9% higher after reporting an earnings beat and signaling strong AI demand throughout next year. Breadth was weak — ten of eleven S&P sectors traded lower, led by declines in defensive sectors like healthcare, utilities and consumer staples, as money rotated into semis and software behind strong earnings from Nvidia, Salesforce, CrowdStrike and Okta. With QNTM's model spread across 50 names rather than concentrated in a single mega-cap, it captured the broad tech tailwind without the outsized single-stock lift that flattered cap-weighted SPY — landing it a few basis points shy of the benchmark rather than notably ahead or behind.

Market recap: The Nasdaq rose 1.57%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.72%, and the Dow climbed about 0.2%. Wednesday's PCE data had shown inflation remained sticky heading into the Fed's Jackson Hole gathering. QNTM's conviction score sat at a neutral 49.6 with only 3.5% of the 1,422-stock universe flagged high-conviction — consistent with a mildly bullish but narrow tape.

What's next: All eyes turn to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's first Jackson Hole speech tomorrow for signals on the rate path amid still-elevated core inflation.