Asset Management Weekly Market Commentary

Market updates for the week ending
May 15, 2026

Key observations

• Optimism throughout much of the week gave way to pessimism on Friday as energy prices resumed their ascent, leading to a breakout to the upside for U.S. Treasury yields, with yields on many tenors reaching year-to-date highs. The sharp rise in Treasury yields rattled market participants and weighed on valuations for longer duration sectors, specifically information technology, leading to profit taking and rotation with software laggards receiving a boost from flows out of semiconductor leaders.
• Abroad, emerging markets succumbed to profit taking with high-flying semiconductor names in South Korea and Taiwan taking center stage. Weakness was broad-based within emerging market indices, and even developing markets viewed as potential beneficiaries of higher energy prices such as Brazil and Mexico traded lower into the weekend.
• Global sovereign bond yields broke higher into the weekend, with the 10-year Treasury yield jumping 10-basis points on Friday to close at 4.56%, a year-to-date closing high. Not to be overlooked, yields on 10-year German bunds and 10-year U.K. gilts also rose sharply, with the former rising 8-basis points and the latter 17-basis points on Friday alone. Sovereign yields across the globe remain beholden to the path taken by crude oil prices, and by those lights, the path of least resistance appears to be higher in the near-term.

What we're watching this week

• Semiconductor behemoth Nvidia (NVDA) is set to post quarterly earnings on Wednesday after the market close. Nvidia’s guidance/outlook could lead to either a continuation of the sharp move higher for semiconductor and other AI-related stocks in recent months or bring about a much-needed rest for these leading industry groups.
• Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s April meeting will be released Wednesday. Market participants will be looking to the minutes for more color or granularity surrounding what was said regarding a more explicit stance toward a move to a more balanced or neutral stance between rate cuts and rate hikes.
• S&P Global releases its preliminary purchasing managers indices (PMI) for May on Friday. Manufacturing PMI is expected to fall to 53.5 from 54.5 the prior month, while the Services PMI is expected to remain steady month over month at 51.0. A reading above 50 indicates expansion or growth, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.