August 31, 2026  ·  Le Dossier

Futures lean risk-on into the open

The pre-open brief: overnight markets, dealer positioning, early movers, insider filings and the prior session's options tape — one page, before the bell.

Published Monday Aug 31, 4:07 PM CTDaily edition4 min read
01

TL;DR

S&P futures are higher at +0.15%. VIX at 14.92 prices calm. SPY opens between the 760 put wall and the 785 call wall — those are the day’s magnets.

Everything below is generated from the same data our desk trades on: the overnight session, dealer positioning, the early movers, and the filings and options tape from the prior session.

02

Overnight & Futures

Levels are the overnight session against the prior settle, captured at 4:07 PM Central. Treasury yield and the dollar set the tone for rate-sensitive groups before the equity open.

Overnight session
MarketLastChange
S&P futures7,701.25+0.15%
Nasdaq futures29,516.00+0.77%
Russell futures2,959.00−1.70%
VIX14.92−3.43%
10-yr yield4.758%+2.57%
Dollar index99.42+0.25%
WTI crude86.36+5.02%
Gold4,497.6−2.19%
Bitcoin78,743−1.89%
03

Dealer Positioning

Dealer positioning from listed options open interest. Heavy call strikes act as magnets-then-ceilings when spot trades below them; heavy put strikes mark where hedging flows tend to defend. The walls are the largest single-strike concentrations near the money.

SPY — open-interest profile

Spot 769.28 · call wall 785 (37,624 OI) · put wall 760 (37,007 OI) · pinned between the walls

803798793788785 · CALL WALL783778773768763760 · PUT WALL758753748743738SPOT 769.28
Call OIPut OI

QQQ — open-interest profile

Spot 716.91 · call wall 700 (32,950 OI) · put wall 700 (30,098 OI) · trading above its call wall — extended

749744739734729724719714709704700 · CALL WALL699694689SPOT 716.91
Call OIPut OI
04

Earnings Radar

Grouped by day, then by session — before the open, during hours (slot unconfirmed), after the close. Coverage is every reporter in roughly the top 1,000 by market cap (the large-cap index universe). 8 smaller names reporting in the window are excluded; the full list is available on request. Where a name is on our coverage list, the one-line read is ours.

No reporting company matches.

Reports that move something
NameReadWhenMkt capEPS est
Monday, August 31
Before open
SAICScience Applications International CorporationBefore open5.3B$2.25
During / TBD
SSLSasol Ltd.During / TBD7.7B—
GRFSGrifols, S.A.During / TBD5.3B$0.27

Drift book. Post-earnings drift positions our model is still tracking (10-session window from the report date).

Open drift calls
TickerReportedBiasConfidenceGap
INTU08-25Bearish57%−3.4%
MRVL08-27Bearish53%−1.5%
NVDA08-26Bearish53%−1.6%
05

Sector Posture

Communication leads over the window at +1.36%; Technology brings up the rear at −1.60%. Rotation, not direction, is usually the earlier tell.

Sector performance
ETFSector1D5D21DYTD
XLCCommunication+1.36%+0.57%+4.40%−3.4%
XLYDiscretionary+1.15%−0.91%+1.01%−1.0%
XLEEnergy+0.63%−0.74%+5.24%+37.3%
XLPStaples+0.39%−2.30%+0.44%+9.9%
XLFFinancials+0.35%−0.20%+2.04%+5.7%
XLBMaterials−0.14%−0.75%+5.48%+15.3%
XLVHealth Care−0.26%−2.02%+5.29%+10.1%
XLREReal Estate−0.40%−1.96%−1.31%+10.1%
XLIIndustrials−0.97%−1.06%−1.48%+12.1%
XLUUtilities−1.02%−1.13%−3.65%−1.1%
XLKTechnology−1.60%+3.10%+5.92%+28.6%
06

Insider Tape

The freshest disclosed buys from corporate insiders and Congressional filers, sized by dollars committed. Filing-date entries retain most of the historical edge; scheduled 10b5-1 activity is labelled and should be discounted.

Recent disclosed buying
FilerTickerTrade dateAmountType
Silverman David MAPH08-05$20,908,476EVP, Human Resources
Shellberg Jeffrey D.BWB08-05$3,366,736Insider
Sullivan DonCSW08-05$1,555,812EVP, Chief Strategy Officer
Blaylock Ronald EPFE08-05$998,821Director
Buckley Mortimer JPFE08-05$960,369Director
Harvey David CCVBF08-05$917,680EVP Chief Operating Officer
Mcwatt MichaelNTB08-05$741,319Managing Director, Cayman
07

Options Flow Recap

Our scanner watches the listed options tape in real time for sweeps and blocks hitting at the ask or the bid across the most liquid underlyings. Friday it flagged 914 qualifying prints, the largest a $4,174,169 single order. The live tape runs on the dashboard during market hours.

08

Levels

Prior-session and five-day extremes. The prior high and low are the first reference points for the open; the five-day range frames the swing.

Reference levels
Index ETFLastPrior highPrior low5-day high5-day low
SPY767.05767.99764.72775.30763.05
QQQ716.76717.58713.16724.13707.45
IWM293.93295.35292.70300.32292.70
DIA531.57533.56530.78536.63530.78
09

Bottom Line

The open belongs to whoever pre-committed. Futures are higher; the walls and prior-session levels above are the map. Take the trade only where a level and a catalyst agree — and size as if the first read is wrong.