← All briefs

High beta's long-short spread trails the S&P by 14.5% over 60 sessions, its worst run in a year

Tuesday, September 15, 2026 · as emailed at the close · the live view is always on the dashboard

Market snapshot

S&P 5007,585.51-0.5%
VIX17.2+1%
10-year5.00%+3bp
Breadth35%above 50-day · 62% a month ago

In brief

The story

The spread. High beta's long-short spread, top quintile minus bottom, is 14.5% behind the S&P over 60 sessions, a -2.2σ move and the worst 60-session run in a year. The damage came from the short leg: Marathon Petroleum +70%, Valero +69%, Phillips 66 +60% and APA +45%, each costing 0.45 to 0.70 points, while Western Digital fell 45% on the long side. Those five names explain only 12% of the move; by sector it is Technology -5.35pp, Energy -4.50pp and Industrials -3.24pp.

The books. Momentum's long book is 9.4% behind the S&P over 60 sessions (-2.1σ, ninth-worst since March 2020). Five semiconductor names account for 38% of it: Micron -18%, Intel -28%, Lam Research -30%, Applied Materials -32%, KLA -35%; Technology contributed -5.80pp. Industrials is 7.1% behind the S&P over 20 sessions (-1.9σ), the sector's eighth-worst 20-session run since 2020. On the week, AI Displacement Risk is 5.7% ahead of the index on Gartner +13% and Accenture +8%; Optical Interconnect is 9.4% behind on Lumentum -14% and Corning -13%.

The market. The S&P closed at 7,585.51, -0.45% on the day, -1.1% on the week and -1.8% over 20 sessions. The 10-year yield rose 3bp to 5.00%; Reuters described stocks wobbling with no sign of panic as yields surged. Breadth is 35% of the index above its 50-day average, from 62% a month ago, a 20-session change at the 13th percentile since 2020. Empire State manufacturing printed 7.6 against 14.75 expected. Wednesday brings the Fed decision, consensus 4%, retail sales and LEN's report.

Who did it · 12% of the shortfall in these names

NameLeg60dContrib
MPC Marathon Petroleumshort+70%-0.70pp
VLO Valero Energyshort+69%-0.69pp
PSX Phillips 66short+60%-0.60pp
WDC Western Digitallong-45%-0.45pp
APA APA Corporationshort+45%-0.45pp

By sector: Technology cost 5.4pp; Energy cost 4.5pp; Industrials cost 3.2pp.

The board · factors vs S&P 500, relative return with z vs the trailing year, sorted by the week

Factor1D5D20DYTD
S&P 500 (computed) absolute-0.5% -0.7σ-1.1% -0.8σ-1.8% -1.0σ+11.4%
Value+0.4% +0.4σ+1.3% +0.6σ+2.0% +0.5σ+7.1%
Low volatility+0.2% +0.2σ+0.4% +0.3σ+0.4% +0.3σ-5.2%
Quality+0.0% -0.0σ+0.3% +0.3σ-0.8% -0.7σ+3.9%
Size+0.1% +0.1σ+0.2% +0.2σ-0.5% -0.1σ+1.3%
Dividend yield+0.1% +0.0σ+0.3% +0.1σ+1.3% +0.3σ+5.6%
Momentum+0.5% +0.5σ-1.7% -1.0σ-3.2% -1.2σ+15.2%
High beta+0.0% -0.0σ-2.8% -1.2σ-3.7% -1.1σ+13.4%

Also

Breadth, leadership, revisions, realized vol and the baskets, every day: the dashboard. Explore correlations →. Headlines are quoted from their publishers for context.

Tomorrow · Sep 16

  • Wednesday: Retail Sales MoM (Aug), consensus 0.8%.
  • Wednesday: FOMC Economic Projections.
  • Wednesday: Fed Interest Rate Decision, consensus 4%.
  • Reporting Wednesday: LEN.

The narrative in this brief is drafted by an AI model from Factor Watch's computed data and checked against it, but it can still be wrong — verify anything before you act on it.

The daily brief, by emailUnusual moves, leadership, breadth, and the factor table — one email at every US market close, plus a Saturday week-in-review.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime. Your email is never shared.