The index fell to its lowest since the first week of June. According to calculations by The Kobeissi Letter analysts, the current streak is the third longest this century: only 2002 and 2008 saw longer declines, with the downturn lasting ten weeks in those years.
Bank of America was hit hardest - down 18%. State Street lost 14%, Citigroup - 10%. The banks' third-quarter 2026 reports came out mixed last week and did not relieve the pressure.
Investors fear two things: that artificial intelligence will take away part of the banks' business and that interest rates will go up. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Herman Chan points to another vulnerability: banks earned well on the SpaceX share placement, but the delay of Anthropic's IPO deprives them of part of their fees. Momei Ku of PSP Growth says it plainly: Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are already turning into AI stocks because of loans and deals in this sector.
The alarm is visible at the level of states as well. Financier Casey Donaldson draws attention: central banks are pulling gold out of overseas vaults and buying the metal at the fastest pace in decades, while private investors are selling gold because of rising rates.
The Bank of Russia hedges differently - through capital: all 12 systemically important banks (about 80% of the sector's assets) have been kept on the list, and a 1 pp surcharge has been added to their requirement. For a trader, this is a sector that is currently moving in wide weekly candles.
Six weeks of trend - and what is left of it?
A move of 18% in a single stock over a month and a half is a rare gift that can be caught even without a perfect entry. The problem is usually not the idea but the amount in the account: the same trend on a deposit of a couple thousand gives a result the size of a utility bill. prop trading is built precisely for this case: you pass the challenge and then work with the company's trading account instead of saving up the nominal for years. The streak is not over yet, and the mechanics are worth understanding before the next one like it.