Daily Index Insights offers a concise two-minute read on the latest news and trends in index markets. This resource includes performance data from S&P Dow Jones Indices across equities, fixed income, multi-asset, commodities, and factors. Our daily insights are designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of market movements, empowering you to make informed decisions based on the most current indices data and analysis.
"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 - December 20, 1996)
On this day 59 years ago, Rolling Stone magazine published its first issue in San Francisco, launching a publication that would help define music journalism and shape popular culture for decades. Founded by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason, the 35-cent debut featured John Lennon on the cover in a still from his film How I Won the War. Packaged with a free roach clip, it captured the counterculture spirit of the era, and marked the beginning of a magazine that would go on to cover everything from rock music to politics. Here is your Daily Dashboard.
- The S&P 500® fell 2.7% last week, its fourth consecutive weekly decline. Thursday's 4.4% drop, its worst day since April 2025, outweighed gains earlier in the week. Energy (-11.9%) was the clear laggard, followed by Momentum (-8.7%) and Information Technology (-6.9%). At the other end, Consumer Discretionary (+2.7%), Communication Services (+2.3%) and Real Estate (+1.9%) all finished in positive territory.
- The big event of the week was, of course, the U.S. midterm elections, with Democrats winning control of both the House and Senate. Markets initially welcomed the clear-cut result, and the S&P 500 rose 1.6% on Wednesday. On Thursday, though, they turned sharply lower as investors weighed what the results could mean for the AI buildout, alongside a wave of local ballot measures targeting data centers. Since Nov. 4, Semiconductors and Momentum have each fallen 6%. Energy fared worse as oil prices pulled back, while internationally the S&P Korea BMI dropped 16%.
- U.S. elections are far from the sole focus of markets, though. AI stocks are in the midst of a significant drawdown as markets grow increasingly uneasy about whether the scale of AI capital spending will pay off. It is also still earnings season, with several AI-relevant companies reporting this week, including Applied Materials, Cisco Systems and CoreWeave. It is unsurprising, therefore, that the market expects elevated short-term volatility and dispersion. The VIX closed Friday at 25.64, down from the day before but still elevated, while DSPX has edged up to 39.95, up 2.5 points so far this month.
- And with earnings season in full swing, it is interesting to see the impact on equity valuations. Despite a strong year for the S&P 500, up 9% YTD, its 1-year forward P/E has fallen to around 17.4 from a recent peak above 22 in late 2025, as expected earnings growth has outpaced index performance. Last week's selloff sped up that decline, but earnings have done much of the work, with operating EPS up 32% over the past 12 months.
