EB Partner Interviews Last Week — Recruiter Said More Candidates Coming Next Week. Good or Bad Sign?

Hey everyone — looking for some perspective from people who’ve been through elite boutique recruiting.

I’m in the process with an elite boutique (think PJT / Evercore / PWP) for a lateral analyst role in a specialized group. My timeline has been:

• First round(s) → went well
• Advanced quickly to speak with a Director
• Director interview went extremely well — at the end he asked me if I had other processes/timelines he should be aware of. I said yes. After that, he pushed my process forward immediately
• Got invited to two partner interviews last Monday
• Both partner conversations were very strong
  • One partner grilled me hard on technical concepts and I handled everything
  • The other was more conversational and went fantastic. This was my first interview on Wall St, I understand its compeititve but I walked out thinking the job was mine. That was on a Monday, crickets all week when waiting to hear back. Then followed up a week later (see below)
• I sent thank-you notes the same day

This morning I followed up with the recruiter to check on timing.
She responded:

“We have a few more candidates coming in for interviews next week and should have an update on next steps after that.”

Now I’m not sure how to interpret that.

On one hand, the Director clearly liked me since he accelerated me.
On the other hand, the idea of waiting 2 weeks after a partner round doesn’t feel great.

Questions:

1. Is this type of delay normal for EB partner rounds?
2. Does “more candidates coming next week” generally mean I’m not the frontrunner?
3. At this stage, is silence neutral or negative?
4. Should I do anything (e.g. update the Director about other processes), or just sit tight?

I know every process is different, but curious how people with real EB recruiting experience interpret this.

Thanks in advance.