HOUSTON, Texas, October 6, 2026 – 23.5 Strategies, a Houston-based strategy, transaction, and execution advisory firm, today published Strategic Conditions: Q3 2026 Review & Q4 Watchpoints, the third edition of its quarterly institutional review of the market, operating, and capital conditions shaping consequential business decisions.
The report finds an expansion that held through the third quarter but grew more uneven across households, borrowers, sectors, and regions. It examines the return of the hurdle rate to the operating plan, the migration of bottlenecks downstream in energy markets and outward through the AI infrastructure chain, and the widening dispersion between strong and marginal borrowers in credit markets.
“Q3 refused to give us a clean story. The economy did not roll over, but it did not normalize either,” said Bryan Kaus, founder and principal of 23.5 Strategies. “The discipline this quarter is precision: separate what the market gave from what management created, and demand more from every investment before conditions decide for you.”
The Q3 edition includes the firm's conditions dashboard across five domains, sector reviews spanning energy and infrastructure, chemicals and materials, industrials and supply chains, capital allocation, and leadership and execution, and closes with the strategic moves, watchpoints, and questions the firm would put before any board, owner, or investment committee this quarter.
The full report is available on the firm's research platform. Strategic Conditions is published each quarter; the next edition will follow at the close of the fourth quarter.