The S&P 500 couldn't hold 6,000 on Tuesday, finishing down a modest 0.3%, while the NYSE couldn't hold 20,000, dropping 0.8%. The Nasdaq, Nasdaq100, and S&P 100 were all flat. The larger losses came from recent leaders, with the S&P MidCap 400 falling 1% and the S&P SmallCap 600 dipping 1.5%. Has a fear of large, round numbers on some of the major indices replaced a fear of missing out (FOMO)? Or can we just call it profit taking on a very short, but torrid, advance higher? With the smaller and less-concentrated indices falling the most, the reading for market breadth was very bad. The reading for NYSE advances-decliners was -1,917; the reading for NYSE advancing issues/total issues was a weak 20% (one of the worst days in recent months); and the reading for NYSE advancing volume/total volume was 29%. The S&P 500 sectors didn't inspire a lot of confidence, but it's only one day. Materials dropped 1.7%, Healthcare gave up 1.4%, Consumer Discretionary and Real Estate fell 1.3%, Utilities dipped 1.2%, and Industrials fell 0.9%. Communication Services led, with a 0.5% gain. Bitcoin reached $90,243 intraday despite the continued rally in the U.S. Dollar Index. So much for the consistent negative correlation between the two assets. However, gold futures fell to $2,606/oz., the lowest mark since September and a clear trend break. Silver futures finished near $31/oz., after hitting $35/oz. late in October. The COT data for metals remains bearish and the COT data for the greenback remains bullish -- so additional weakness in metals is quite possible. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

The United States economy is full of innovation. It has to be. Manufacturing industries that dominated the economy decades ago - textiles, televisions, even automobiles to a large degree - have moved overseas, where labor and materials costs are lower. Yet the U.S. economy, even during the pandemic and the current period of high inflation, has expanded to record levels. If U.S. corporations weren't innovating, creating new products (such as vaccines and AI) and services (such as Zoom calls) and moving into new markets, the domestic economy would not be growing, and capital would not be flooding into the country. The current high level of the U.S. dollar relative to currencies around the world attests to the confidence that global investors have in the durable and innovative U.S. economy.

Intuitive Surgical designs, manufactures, and markets da Vinci robotic surgical systems and related instruments and accessories in the U.S. and internationally. The da Vinci system enables surgeons to perform a wide range of surgical procedures with shorter recovery periods and higher patient comfort. ISRG was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

The volume of weekly insider transactions remains predictably low given the start of earnings season, and the insider-sentiment data from Vickers' Stock Research remains clearly neutral. This ongoing lack of positive sentiment has brought what had been steady improvement in Vickers' overall Insider Index to a halt, as that reading has plateaued. Meanwhile, the NYSE and Nasdaq One-Week Sell/Buy Ratios are relatively close to parity at 4.86 and 5.69, respectively. But the Nasdaq (which had been weaker) is generally improving while the NYSE (which had been stronger) is generally weakening. Should they meet in the middle, overall sentiment will be landlocked in neutral territory, this as stock indices continue to crawl higher and add to impressive gains so far in 2024. On a sector basis, insider buying outpaced selling in Energy, with shares valued at roughly $32 million bought versus about $200,000 sold. Conversely, selling by insiders was particularly notable in Financial, with shares valued at $397 million sold. Selling was also evident in Healthcare, Consumer Staples, and Information Technology. This week, analysts at Vickers highlighted insider transactions of interest at PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE: PBF) and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC).