Market snapshot
In brief
The story
The move. Quality's long book finished the week 1.6% ahead of the S&P, a 2.0 sigma week and the 95th percentile of the past year. Five names did 68% of it: Meta Platforms +14% for 0.66 points, Micron +11%, Lam Research +14%, Applied Materials +14% and Palantir +9%. Technology contributed 1.54 points and communication services 0.43. The same tilt shows up beyond large caps, with quality in the 3,000-name universe up 1.0% against its benchmark, a 2.3 sigma week.
The spreads. The same rally hurt the long-short books. Value's top-minus-bottom spread lost 5.8% against the S&P, a 2.4 sigma week at the 1st percentile of the year and the fourth session of the move, with Moderna +23%, Intel +17%, AMD +15%, Cadence +15% and Coinbase +15% all in the short leg; those five made up just 12% of the move, so the drag was broad. Size's spread fell 4.0%, the 2nd percentile, with Gen Digital -24% in the long leg and Intel, AMD, Lam and Meta in the short. Technology cost each spread roughly two points.
The market. The S&P closed at 7,703.83, off 0.03% on the day and up 0.8% on the week. The 10-year rose 7bp to 5.18%; CNBC reported yields kept climbing after the 10-year hit a 19-year high as investors ramped up rate-hike bets. Breadth thinned: 26% of the index sits above its 50-day average, from 59% a month ago, a 20-session change at the 8th percentile since 2020. Memory & Storage added 8.7% vs the S&P on the week on Seagate +13%, Micron +11% and Sandisk +9%.
Who did it · 68% of the gain in these names
| Name | Weight | 5d | Contrib |
|---|---|---|---|
| META Meta Platforms | 5.0% | +14% | +0.66pp |
| MU Micron Technology | 5.0% | +11% | +0.49pp |
| LRCX Lam Research | 2.6% | +14% | +0.35pp |
| AMAT Applied Materials | 2.2% | +14% | +0.29pp |
| PLTR Palantir Technologies | 2.9% | +9% | +0.24pp |
By sector: Technology added 1.5pp; Communication Services added 0.4pp; Healthcare added 0.1pp.
The board · factors vs S&P 500, relative return with z vs the trailing year, sorted by the week
| Factor | 1D | 5D | 20D | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 (computed) absolute | -0.0% -0.1σ | +0.8% +0.3σ | +0.4% -0.3σ | +13.0% |
| Quality | +0.3% +0.8σ | +1.6% +2.0σ | +1.4% +0.8σ | +5.7% |
| High beta | +0.2% +0.1σ | +3.9% +1.3σ | +5.4% +0.8σ | +20.1% |
| Momentum | +0.4% +0.3σ | +2.7% +1.2σ | +3.6% +0.7σ | +19.9% |
| Low volatility | -0.1% -0.0σ | -2.5% -1.0σ | -5.2% -1.1σ | -8.9% |
| Size | -1.2% -1.4σ | -3.5% -1.8σ | -7.5% -2.1σ | -3.5% |
| Dividend yield | -0.6% -0.6σ | -3.9% -1.8σ | -6.9% -1.8σ | -0.2% |
| Value | -0.2% -0.2σ | -3.8% -2.1σ | -5.7% -1.9σ | +0.8% |
Also
- New Home Sales 0.684M (0.62M expected)
- Continuing Jobless Claims 1719K (1750K expected)
- Reported today: COST beat (6.75 vs 6.54); DRI met (2.05 vs 2.05)
- Travel & Experiences basket -12.6% vs S&P over 20 sessions
- Defense & Aerospace basket -9.8% vs S&P over 20 sessions
- Stocks Climb Back To Par — WSJ
- Stock Market Today: Government Bond Selloff Widens — WSJ
Breadth, leadership, revisions, realized vol and the baskets, every day: the dashboard. Explore correlations →. Headlines are quoted from their publishers for context.
Tomorrow · Sep 25
- Friday: Durable Goods Orders Ex Transp MoM (Aug), consensus 0.6%.
- Friday: Durable Goods Orders Ex Defense MoM (Aug), consensus -0.6%.
- Friday: Durable Goods Orders MoM (Aug), consensus -0.4%.
- September so far: High beta leads the quilt (+5.9%); the S&P sits 4th of 8.
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.