The S&P 500 closed the week at 7,722.72, down 20.69 points, or 0.27%, from September 25 to October 2. Breadth leaned negative, with only 171 of the index's 503 members finishing higher. Concentration ran at 138%, in narrow mode, meaning a small set of positions did far more work than the small headline number implies, pulling in opposite directions and mostly canceling out.
Apple was the single largest drag, subtracting 14.26 points on a 2.16% decline. Corteva's 8.24-point subtraction is worth flagging for its scale relative to the stock itself: the name fell 84.82% on the week. Meta Platforms took off another 6.13 points on a 3.14% decline, with Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly rounding out the top drags at 5.22 and 4.13 points on declines of 5.57% and 3.32%. On the other side, Nvidia alone added 28.78 points on a 3.95% gain, more than the next four contributors combined: Applied Materials added 5.84 points on an 11.35% surge, Lam Research added 5.51 points on a 10.24% gain, KLA added 3.22 points on a 10.09% gain, and Accenture added 2.86 points on a 12.99% gain.
The Dow
The Dow closed the week at 51,177.00, down 651.62 points, or 1.26%, a sharper decline than the S&P's. Breadth was weak, with only 8 of 30 members higher, and the mode was broad, with concentration at 54%, well below the S&P's reading.
Goldman Sachs led the drags, subtracting 194.42 points on a 3.5% decline. Johnson & Johnson took off another 89.87 points on its 5.57% slide, Amgen subtracted 68.77 points on a 2.79% decline, JPMorgan Chase subtracted 63.48 points on a 3.11% decline, and Home Depot subtracted 61.34 points on a 3.52% decline. The financial and healthcare weight in the index did more damage here than in the broader S&P. On the upside, Caterpillar added 141.7 points on a 2.9% gain, Nvidia added 52.78 points on a 3.95% gain, Cisco added 32.69 points on a 5.15% gain, Chevron added 13.91 points, and Amazon added 11 points.
The Nasdaq 100
The Nasdaq 100 closed the week at 30,807.93, up 199.8 points, or 0.65%, the one index of the three that finished in the green. Breadth was 44 of 101 members higher, concentration sat at 104%, and the mode was divergence, a label that fits: the same mega-cap names dragging the S&P and Dow lower were present here too, but chip strength overwhelmed them.
Nvidia added 125.56 points on its 3.95% gain, Space Exploration Technologies added 52 points on a 6.91% gain, ASML added 29.68 points on a 7.07% gain, Applied Materials added 26.84 points, and Lam Research added 22.72 points. Against that, Apple subtracted 96.38 points on a 2.16% decline and Meta subtracted 39.74 points on a 3.14% decline. The two Alphabet share classes together subtracted 58.51 points, with GOOG off 31.52 points and GOOGL off 26.99 points, and Tesla subtracted 23.9 points on a 0.41% decline.
The sectors
Across the 11 sectors, the split was clean: three finished higher and eight finished lower. Technology led at 1.82%, followed by Energy at 1.47% and Utilities at 0.77%. On the other side, Health Care was the weakest at negative 2.67%, with Financials close behind at negative 2.49% and Communication Services at negative 2.36%. Materials, dragged by Corteva, finished at negative 1.85%.
Technology's gain traced back to Nvidia, which added 1.29 points to the sector on its 3.95% advance, with the chip-equipment names behind it. The sector was the week's clearest bright spot and the only one where a single large contributor explains most of the move.
Health Care's decline was led by Johnson & Johnson, which subtracted 1.04 points from the sector on its 5.57% drop, the same stock that showed up among the Dow's heaviest drags. The sector's weakness was broad rather than driven by one outlier, consistent with the sector-wide decline in the index.
No percentile reading against the past year is available in this week's data, so none of these moves can be labeled large by that standard. The week's shape is better told through the split itself: a Dow down 1.26%, an S&P down a much smaller 0.27%, and a Nasdaq 100 up 0.65%, three different outcomes from overlapping sets of stocks.
The numbers
- The S&P 500 closed the week at 7,722.72, down 20.69 points, or 0.27%, with 171 of 503 members higher.
- The Dow closed at 51,177.00, down 651.62 points, or 1.26%, with only 8 of 30 members higher.
- The Nasdaq 100 closed at 30,807.93, up 199.8 points, or 0.65%, with 44 of 101 members higher.
- Nvidia was the week's biggest single driver across indices, adding 28.78 points to the S&P 500, 52.78 points to the Dow, and 125.56 points to the Nasdaq 100.
- Goldman Sachs was the Dow's biggest drag, subtracting 194.42 points on a 3.5% decline.
- Apple was the Nasdaq 100's biggest drag, subtracting 96.38 points on a 2.16% decline.
- Technology was the week's strongest sector at 1.82%, while Health Care was the weakest at negative 2.67%.
- Corteva fell 84.82% on the week, the sharpest single-stock move in the S&P 500 dataset.
From Babylon Burns
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