The S&P 500 had been trading on both sides of unchanged but has begun to fade, in a relatively uneventful start to the week. It seemed like a bit of carry-over from how things ended on Friday, when the index opened down ~1% before quickly rallying into the green, then trading down a gentle glide path to finish essentially flat. In early morning trading today, futures faded from their highs around the European open and the index started the day lower, but had moved to around unchanged right after the Open. The index couldn’t sustain a move above its 50d and is currently looking for support there. As we noted, it’s not much of a party in the market today despite one part of the MAC Desk celebrating a milestone birthday. The S&P 500 is down ~0.5%, as is the equal-weight. Small caps are lagging, with the Russell better than the S&P 600. The pressure on momentum and high beta/narrative-driven names looked to have been subsiding a bit. Areas like quantum computing, rare earths and neo clouds/data data centers were trading mixed rather than sharply lower, but those names have started to slip more into the red as the overall market fades. Comm Services is in the lead as Alphabet jumped 3% after Berkshire disclosed a stake in the stock, while reports are saying the Gemini 3 AI model may be released this week. Utilities are up across the board by about 1%. Healthcare continues its run of strength and assumption of leadership as AI has stumbled. Biopharma is strong today (ICE Biotech and DRG Index +1-2%). Managed Care names are also higher. Tech is lower. Equipment makers are under some pressure after Morgan Stanley downgraded several names. It’s another light economic calendar, though August Construction data was released as the federal data publishing machine is slowly brought back online. The pressure on crypto continues. Bitcoin and Ether are down 3-5% and falling. Bitcoin has dropped below $95k. It’s looking for support ~$92.5K, back to a level not seen since May.

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