As US equities get more volatile, are the drivers of the rally still intact? John Flood, head of Americas Equities Execution Services in Goldman Sachs Global Banking &amp; Markets, breaks down the market action, and explains why strong earnings and positive technicals could drive stocks higher, in this conversation with Chris Hussey. Recorded on June 25, 2026. The opinions and views expressed herein are as of the date of publication, subject to change without notice, and may not necessarily reflect the institutional views of Goldman Sachs or its affiliates. The material provided is intended for informational purposes only, and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation from any Goldman Sachs entity to take any particular action, or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell any securities or financial products. This material may contain forward-looking statements. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Neither Goldman Sachs nor any of its affiliates make any representations or warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the statements or information contained herein and disclaim any liability whatsoever for reliance on such information for any purpose. Each name of a third-party organization mentioned is the property of the company to which it relates, is used here strictly for informational and identification purposes only and is not used to imply any ownership or license rights between any such company and Goldman Sachs. A transcript is provided for convenience and may differ from the original video or audio content. Goldman Sachs is not responsible for any errors in the transcript. This material should not be copied, distributed, published, or reproduced in whole or in part or disclosed by any recipient to any other person without the express written consent of Goldman Sachs. Disclosures applicable to research with respect to issuers, if any, mentioned herein are available through your Goldman Sachs representative or at ⁠http://www.gs.com/research/hedge.html⁠ Goldman Sachs does not endorse any candidate or any political party. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S&P to 8,000 This Year?

The Markets

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Markets

## Participants

- **Chris Hussey** (Goldman Sachs)
- **John Flood** (Goldman Sachs)

## Transcript

[SPEAKER_01] This is The Markets. I'm Chris Hussey, and today is Thursday, June 25th, and I'm here on the Goldman Sachs trading floor with John Flood, who is head of America's equity sales trading within global banking and markets. Floody, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. All right. I want to get into a whole lot of different things that I know are top of mind for you. But first, I want to talk about the markets this week because they've started to get volatile again.

[SPEAKER_01] What do you make of it? Is the tech trade starting to show some cracks or is this a time to buy any dips?

[SPEAKER_02] I still think that we're in buy dip mode. Reminder that we're stepping into the Russell rebalance tomorrow, which we typically see bouts of volatility heading into. And a week ago from today, as we were just talking about the Knicks parade, which was awesome, go Knicks. We actually had 34 billion shares trade across all U.S. equity exchanges. That's the most active trading session in the history of the stock market.

[SPEAKER_02] That broke the record made on Liberation Day in 2025. So what that tells me is that you have a lot of investors from all different cohorts, whether it be retail, institutional, corporate, moving portfolios around. So I do think that the volatility will continue. But I do think general trend for this market is higher and dips still present solid buying opportunities.

[SPEAKER_01] That's pretty awesome. I didn't appreciate that. Two million people downtown Manhattan watching the Knicks and we get the biggest trading day in the history of that. Correct. Pretty awesome. Good thing that we no longer have to do the physical trading at the New York Stock Exchange. That would have been difficult. All right. Let's get into the supply because supply is a big factor here. We've got an IPO surge that's taking place here. What does this recent high profile issuance mean for markets?

[SPEAKER_02] Yeah, we saw two high profile deals in a two week period in June. Between the two of them, there was one hundred and forty billion notional. It was the first and second largest primary capital raise in the history of the U.S. market in a two week period. And the stock market didn't blink. And on our desk, we saw significant institutional demand for these offerings.

[SPEAKER_02] More importantly, I think that we've talked about the retail bit a lot in our conversations and with clients. Retail has been the most consistent buyer of stocks this year. And as we get through these high profile IPOs, it feels like it is accelerating the retail bid, which I would expect to continue for the rest of this year.

[SPEAKER_01] All right. Another theme on the supply side, of course, is the flip side of issuance. And that is buybacks and M&A. You know, strong M&A environment. Buybacks, you're not so s...

S&P to 8,000 This Year?

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

S&P to 8,000 This Year?

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.