The broad indexes are lower, but chips are holding up.
CAMS Market Check.
Tuesday, September 29, 2026.
Good afternoon.
The broad indexes are lower, but chips are holding up. At eleven fifty Eastern, the S and P 500 was down about 0.2%, the Nasdaq Composite was nearly flat, the Dow was down about 0.5%, and the Russell 2000 was down about 0.6%.
The split is inside the market. Semiconductors were up about 1.6%, while technology was up about 0.3%. Consumer staples were down about 1.1%, health care was off about one percent, and energy was down about 0.8%.
Breadth is the weak spot. Nasdaq's stock screener showed 1,895 advancers and 4,603 decliners across 7,017 rows.
Rates are still the catch. The ten-year Treasury yield was 5.278%, close to its session high of 5.289%.
Oil cooled during the morning. West Texas Intermediate crude was $91.52 a barrel, down about 1.2%, while Brent crude was $104.41, down about 0.8%.
The labor report did not show a surge in job cuts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said August job openings were little changed at 7.1 million, hires were little changed at 5.2 million, and layoffs and discharges were essentially unchanged at 1.6 million.
Consumer confidence was softer. The Conference Board's September index fell 6.7 points to 81.9 from 88.6 in August.
That mix helps explain the uneven tape: softer household sentiment and narrow participation are offsetting strength in chips. For the afternoon, the test is whether semiconductor strength spreads while long yields stop pressing higher. Without both, the headline indexes may keep looking calmer than the market underneath.
Market analysis, not personalized investment advice.
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