S&P 500 nears an all-time high with 75% of its stocks below their 50-day average
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 2, 2026.
If your index fund is making new highs while three of every four holdings sit below their 50-day average, you own a handful of mega caps rather than the market.
TAKE MY BREADTH AWAY: The S&P 500 is about to hit a new all time high and yet 75% of the stocks in are trading below their 50-day moving avg. Breadthless ATHs are historically rare but increasingly normal (chart). Prob bc the top 10 stocks have acquired like 1000 companies = why https://t.co/aQ8waBuuqk
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With three out of every four S&P 500 stocks sitting below their 50-day moving average while the index brushes an all-time high, the index now reflects only a very small slice of the market.
Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas flagged the disconnect on October 2, noting that breadthless all-time highs were historically rare but have become increasingly normal. He points to the top 10 stocks concentrating an enormous share of market cap in a handful of names.
That concentration is exactly what a standard S&P 500 index fund delivers. Owning the index right now means a small group of mega-cap stocks is doing nearly all the work, while the other 75% of holdings drag or tread water below a key technical threshold.
For investors who believe they have broad market exposure, this is a useful reality check. An all-time high in the headline number does not mean the average stock in the portfolio is participating in the rally.