Fletcher Friday Report: August 21, 2026
How's your portfolio treating you today? There's a lot to unpack in the market this week — buy, hold, sell, and everything in between. Let's work through it together. Welcome back to the Fletcher Friday Report.
I'll be the first to admit I'm typically an emotional investor, and that's exactly why I built Fletcher — to help me stay disciplined no matter what the market is doing. This week, we'll look at how Fletcher performed in a fairly volatile stretch and see how it stacks up against the S&P.
Is It Really a Summer Slump?
Before we get into the numbers, a quick follow-up on something I mentioned last week: the idea of a "summer slump." Turns out that might not be the full story. According to Yahoo Finance, August trading volume is actually up 10% compared to last year.
So what's going on? I turned to Google for some help, and the AI-generated answer pointed to a mix of sustained buying demand, active fund rebalancing, and greater liquidity — which tends to translate into bigger swings and more volatility around economic reports. Volatility — yeah, I think we can all agree we've felt that one lately, and it's definitely shown up in Fletcher's numbers too.
Fletcher Pulls Back From Its June High
Year to date, Fletcher is off its high from June. Back in June, we were sitting at 205% year to date. Right now, we're at 134%. To be clear, this is live 2026 data — backtesting for this stretch runs from January 2026 back to 2018.
July delivered a real haircut, down 26%. That came right on the heels of a strong three-month run where we posted gains of 26%, 27%, and 21%. So the first half of the year was very much an uphill climb, and this recent dip lines up with what the historical backtesting has shown us all along: on average, we tend to see two positive months out of every three, meaning a negative month shows up roughly once a quarter. Everything we're seeing right now — live and backtested — is consistent with that pattern.
Staying the Course
So what do I do with all of this? Honestly, I just let Fletcher do what it's built to do — run its rules and stick to the plan. I keep reminding myself that Fletcher isn't a short-term play. It's designed to think in terms of one to two years, not three, six, or even twelve months. That's the horizon where Fletcher really shows what it can do, and that's the plan I'm sticking with.
I say this every week, but it bears repeating: short time periods just aren't a fair way to judge the market — or Fletcher. Fletcher isn't built for short-term performance, even though it often delivers impressive short-term numbers anyway. This week wasn't one of those weeks.
This Week's Numbers
- This week: Fletcher down 7%, while the S&P dipped around 1%
- Month to date: Fletcher up over 6%, versus the S&P at around 1%
- Year to date: Fletcher at 134%, versus the S&P at around 12%
- 12-month trailing: Fletcher at 366%, versus the S&P at around 20%
Keeping all of this in context, it's worth repeating: long-term is our friend.
Where Fletcher Stands Right Now
Fletcher is currently signaling five positions, out of a possible six max at any given time. The next signal update lands September 1st, so we're still working within the August 1st signals for now.
One thing I enjoy about following these individual stocks is that they're often in and out of the headlines — sometimes flying under the radar entirely — and they regularly open my eyes to opportunities I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Fletcher is industry agnostic, so we'll see it move through pharma, financials, energy, tech, and beyond depending on where the signals point. Right now, we're leaning heavily into tech, which makes sense given that's where a lot of the growth and activity seems to be concentrated.
A Kindred Investing Philosophy
In a past episode, I mentioned Nancy Tengler, who's with a firm called Laffer Tengler here in Nashville. I've generally appreciated her outlook and how she presents her thinking — a lot of it aligns with my own approach. I caught a recent interview where she talked about her firm's philosophy of sticking with the growth, and honestly, that's basically Fletcher in a nutshell.
Fletcher likes to go where the action is — where the movement and growth are happening. That naturally comes with volatility, but the rules Fletcher follows include guardrails that keep it from simply chasing the wind. So far, that approach has held up, both in my personal portfolio and in the live data we've been tracking since January.
Wrapping Up
That'll do it for this week. Thanks for tuning in — I hope you're weathering the market's moodiness as well as I am trying to. To learn more about Fletcher, head over to FletcherInvestor.com. Have a great week, and I'll catch you again next Friday.