Week of August 31, 2026  ·  Le Dossier

A range week — nobody blinked

The week reviewed and the week ahead: index and cross-asset moves, sector rotation, dealer positioning, the earnings calendar, and the insider and options-flow tape.

Published Sunday Sep 6Weekly editionNext issue · Sep 135 min read
01

TL;DR

SPY finished the trailing five sessions at +0.11%. Into next week, dealer positioning brackets SPY between the 737 put wall and the 770 call wall. The sections below are built from the desk’s own data: index and cross-asset closes, sector rotation, the coming week’s earnings calendar, disclosed insider buying, and our options-flow scanner.

02

Desk — week in review

16 trades closed this week, 9 green — 56%.

By book
BookWinsTradesWin rate
daytrade91656%
Best peaks this week
TradeBookPeak
TSLA 352.5C 2026-09-02daytrade+135%
SPY 764C 2026-09-01daytrade+35%
SPY 765C 2026-09-01daytrade+33%
SPY 763P 2026-09-01daytrade+32%
SPY 761P 2026-09-01daytrade+30%
03

Week in Review

Trailing five sessions across the majors, with the last session broken out. Breadth and rotation detail follows in the sector map.

Five-session performance
IndexCloseLast day5 days
S&P 500 (SPY)770.19−0.39%+0.11%
Nasdaq 100 (QQQ)718.96+0.18%+0.35%
Dow (DIA)534.08−0.53%−0.18%
Russell 2000 (IWM)296.01+0.28%+0.09%
04

Cross-Asset

Rates, the dollar, commodities and crypto over the same five sessions. Equity moves that disagree with this table usually lose the argument.

Cross-asset, five sessions
MarketLast5 days
VIX14.53+0.69%
10-yr yield4.784+1.36%
Dollar index99.16−0.54%
WTI crude91.48+9.69%
Gold4,476.6−0.03%
Bitcoin79,920+3.25%
05

Sector Rotation

Utilities leads over the window at +2.00%; Discretionary brings up the rear at −1.46%. Rotation, not direction, is usually the earlier tell.

Rotation map

5-day vs 21-day — upper-right is leadership

LEADINGWEAKENINGLAGGINGIMPROVING21-DAY RETURN5-DAY RETURNXLKXLFXLEXLVXLYXLPXLIXLUXLBXLREXLC
Sector performance
ETFSector1D5D21DYTD
XLUUtilities+0.12%+2.00%−1.25%−0.3%
XLFFinancials−0.67%+0.76%+0.94%+5.8%
XLCCommunication−1.19%+0.53%+0.71%−4.2%
XLVHealth Care−1.07%+0.52%+3.48%+10.2%
XLKTechnology+0.69%+0.49%−0.35%+29.8%
XLEEnergy−0.87%+0.22%+11.45%+40.4%
XLIIndustrials+0.40%+0.08%−5.36%+10.9%
XLREReal Estate−0.72%−0.43%−2.38%+8.8%
XLPStaples−0.77%−0.46%−0.63%+8.9%
XLBMaterials−0.36%−0.46%−0.78%+13.7%
XLYDiscretionary−1.34%−1.46%−4.11%−2.9%
06

Positioning Into Next Week

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 770.18 · call wall 770 (7,474 OI) · put wall 737 (5,455 OI) · trading above its call wall — extended

804799794789784779774770 · CALL WALL769764759754749744739737 · PUT WALLSPOT 770.18
Call OIPut OI

QQQ — open-interest profile

Spot 717.91 · call wall 722 (6,688 OI) · put wall 710 (7,443 OI) · pinned between the walls

750745740735730725722 · CALL WALL720715710 · PUT WALL705700695690SPOT 717.91
Call OIPut OI
07

Earnings Ahead

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). 105 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, September 7
During / TBD
GRFSGrifols, S.A.During / TBD5.4B$0.27
Tuesday, September 8
During / TBD
GMEGameStop CorporationDuring / TBD8.6B—
After close
CASYCaseys General Stores, Inc.After close28.1B$6.59
TTANServiceTitan, Inc.After close8.9B($0.09)
BRZEBraze, Inc.After close4.1B($0.21)
Wednesday, September 9
Before open
SUNBSunbelt Rentals Holdings, Inc.Before open27.0B$0.99
SAILSailPoint, Inc.Before open11.0B$0.08
CHWYChewy, Inc.Before open9.8B$0.18
CNMCore & Main, Inc.Before open8.5B$0.91
JMKEJersey Mike's Subs Inc.Before open8.1B$0.23
KFYKorn Ferry Before open4.7B$1.35
After close
COOThe Cooper Companies, Inc. After close13.8B$1.11
AVAVAeroVironment, Inc.After close7.5B$0.32
NAVNNavan, Inc.After close7.0B($0.12)
Thursday, September 10
Before open
MMacy's IncBefore open5.9B$0.37
After close
ORCLOCI growth + RPO backlog + AI capexAfter close443.7B$1.40
ADBEAdobe Inc.After close113.6B$4.86
CPRTCopart, Inc.After close31.1B$0.39
DSGXThe Descartes Systems Group Inc.After close6.9B$0.57
Friday, September 11
Before open
KRKroger Company (The)Before open35.8B$1.05
Scenario — ORCL

Beat: OCI 55%+ + RPO above $130B + raised capex (signaling demand) = 6-10% pop
Miss: OCI under 45% or RPO disappointing = 8-15% drawdown

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

Open drift calls
TickerReportedBiasConfidenceGap
PANW09-01Bearish60%−5.2%
SNOW09-02Bearish59%−4.4%
AVGO09-02Bearish51%−0.7%
08

Insider Week

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
Biglari, SardarLOCO08-05$676,00010% Owner
Prince MatthewNET08-05$177,47610b5-1
Briggs Andrew JFMAO08-05$104,280Insider
09

Options Flow

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. This week it flagged 4,339 qualifying prints, the largest a $4,584,500 single order. The live tape runs on the dashboard during market hours.

10

Bottom Line

Positioning resets Monday. The rotation map says where the sponsorship is; the walls say where the friction is. Plan entries at the places those two agree, and let the calendar — not the tape — decide when to be flat.