The Standard and Poors 500 index (SPX) closed yesterday at 6369, down 108 points for a loss of 1.7%. SPX opened the week at 6575, setting up a weekly loss of 3.1%. SPX broke down through the 50 dma on 2/12 and broke through the 200 dma on 3/19. Trading volume ran below average all week. SPX is now down 7.4% since 1/2/26.

VIX, the volatility index for the S&P 500 options, opened Friday morning at 27.4% and spiked to close at 31.1%, below its recent high of 35.3% on 3/9.

I monitor the movement of high beta stocks by tracking the ETF containing the top 100 S&P 500 stocks ranked by beta, SPHB. SPHB closed Friday at 113.5, down 2.5 points or 2.1%. SPHB opened the week at 117.8, setting up a weekly loss of 3.7%. The S&P high beta stocks broke the 50 dma on 3/3 and are within three points of breaking down through the 200 dma at 111.3. Trading volume spiked higher on Friday.

The NASDAQ Composite index closed Friday at 20,948, down 460 points or 2.2%. NASDAQ opened the week at 21,996, setting up a weekly loss of 4.7%. NASDAQ was hit hard early in the week, recovered by Thursday and then gapped open lower Friday. NASDAQ’s trading volume continues to run along the 50 dma. The NASDAQ Composite is now down 10.8% since 1/2/26. 

The market is clearly in correction with the S&P stocks down over 7% since the beginning of the year. NASDAQ is down even farther, nearly 11%. IBD’s recommendation for market exposure is “0-20%”. At times like this, it makes sense to build a list of solid stocks that are handling the correction well and may be solid buys even now:

Diversified oil and gas: CVX, DVN, MPC, SU, VLO, and XOM.

Oil and gas services: HAL and SLB.

Odds and ends doing well in spite of this market: CASY, JNJ, and ROST.

Consistently profitable trading in my accounts this year has been limited to non-directional trading of the indices. My long-term SPX condors (> 60 dte) are up 19.2% this year and have not booked a loss since the “tariff correction” of April, 2025. My SPX zero dte trades have booked net gains of $17,150 this year with ten contracts in a $50k account. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me. I will be happy to help in any way I can.