Don’t let the modest decline in the S&P 500 fool you; the underlying market is much weaker.
The market benchmark declined 0.2% at the open, and since then has largely traded sideways. But more than 400 of the S&P 500 components are falling, while fewer than 100 are rising today, showing that a very small number of stocks are keeping the market from a bigger downturn.
The market’s helpers include the communication services and information technology sectors, which are up 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively.