The S&P 500 closed the week at 7,411.98, down 45.71 points, or 0.61%, from July 17 to July 24. The index fell, but the average stock did not: 262 of 503 members finished the week higher, and the equal-weight version of the index actually gained 0.13%. That is a clean divergence, a handful of large names pulling the cap-weighted number down while breadth underneath stayed constructive.
The drag was concentrated in a familiar group. Tesla alone cost the index 23.31 points on a 17.81% decline, the single largest detractor. Alphabet's two share classes together, GOOGL at negative 17.86 points and GOOG at negative 14.43 points, removed 32.29 points combined, more than any individual stock managed on its own. Amazon subtracted 16.93 points and Meta another 13.29. On the other side, Nvidia added 11.23 points, Micron added 9.52 on an 8.48% jump, and Broadcom, AMD and ExxonMobil rounded out the positive contributors, none of them large enough to offset the mega-cap selling.
The Dow
The Dow closed at 51,947.00, down 199.42 points, or 0.38%, a smaller percentage decline than the S&P's but built on much narrower footing: only 13 of 30 members rose. Concentration ran hot at 213%, and the equal-weight measure fell 0.35%, the opposite of the S&P's equal-weight gain. Where the broader market's breadth argued for a shallow, contained pullback, the Dow's own internals argued the other way.
American Express did the most damage, subtracting 173.67 points on an 8.22% drop, the week's largest single detractor across all three indices. Alphabet cost the Dow 160.66 points, Amazon 89.87, Sherwin-Williams 81.55 and Microsoft 72.04. Travelers, Honeywell, 3M, JPMorgan Chase and Johnson & Johnson all pushed the other way, with Honeywell up 8.06% and 3M up 7.97%, but the five gainers combined could not fully offset the top five losers.
The Nasdaq 100
The Nasdaq 100 took the week's steepest hit, closing at 28,128.34, down 464.32 points, or 1.62%. Breadth was the thinnest of the three indices at 37 of 103, and unlike the S&P, the equal-weight version here also fell, down 1.04%. This was not a narrow-index-versus-broad-market story; the selling reached the average Nasdaq 100 stock too.
Alphabet's two classes were, once again, the story: GOOG cost 203.11 points and GOOGL cost 189.04, a combined 392.15 points, by far the largest drag in any index this week. Amazon subtracted 112.26 points, Tesla 94.42, Microsoft 82.92. On the positive side, Apple added 154.16 points despite a slightly negative 0.22% return, Nvidia added 84.23, Micron 61.85, AMD 44.61 and Cisco 13.47. The chip names carried the index's better half while the software and platform names carried the worse one.
The sectors
Across the eleven sectors, the spread ran from Energy's 3.36% gain to Consumer Discretionary's 5.22% loss, with Industrials, Materials and Real Estate all posting gains north of 1%, while Technology and Financials barely moved and Communication Services fell 3.94%.
Energy was the week's strongest sector, up 3.36%, adding 1.94 points, with ExxonMobil the top driver at 0.73 points on a 6.49% gain.
Consumer Discretionary was the weakest, down 5.22% and subtracting 6.03 points from itself, with Tesla the dominant driver at negative 3.86 points on its 17.81% decline.
No percentile figure is available for any of the three indices this week, so this note makes no claim about how the size of the move stacks up against the past year.
The numbers
- The S&P 500 closed at 7,411.98, down 45.71 points, or 0.61%, for the week.
- Breadth was positive even as the index fell: 262 of 503 S&P 500 members rose, and the equal-weight version of the index gained 0.13%.
- The Dow closed at 51,947.00, down 199.42 points, or 0.38%, with only 13 of 30 members higher.
- The Nasdaq 100 posted the week's steepest decline, closing at 28,128.34, down 464.32 points, or 1.62%, with breadth of just 37 of 103.
- Tesla was the single largest drag on the S&P 500, subtracting 23.31 points on a 17.81% decline.
- Alphabet's two share classes together removed 32.29 points from the S&P 500 and 392.15 points from the Nasdaq 100.
- Nvidia was the S&P 500's biggest positive contributor, adding 11.23 points on a 1.99% gain.
- Energy was the week's strongest sector, up 3.36%, led by ExxonMobil.
- Consumer Discretionary was the weakest sector, down 5.22%, led by Tesla's 17.81% drop.
From Babylon Burns
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