The Ledger Letter
Finance Studio Advisors · Tuesday, October 6, 2026
 

The Nasdaq Set a Record. 157 of Its Stocks Set 52-Week Lows.

The Nasdaq Composite closed Monday at a record 27,477.31. By mid-morning, 157 of its stocks had hit fresh 52-week lows, against just 23 new highs. The S&P 500 sits within 0.3% of its own record, yet its equal-weight version just posted a seventh straight weekly loss. The index is winning. The average stock is not.
 
The Breakdown
Today’s disagreement: the headline indexes price an AI boom; the typical stock prices a 5.28% 10-year and a slowing service economy.
 
01
The Record
The Nasdaq rose 1.05% to 27,477.31, passing its September 22 high. SpaceX jumped more than 7%, and Nvidia and Tesla rose about 2% each.
02
The Lows
Mid-morning Monday, the Nasdaq counted 157 new 52-week lows and 23 new highs, per Reuters. The S&P 500 showed 18 lows and 3 highs.
03
The Laggard
The S&P 500 Equal Weight Index gives every company the same weight. It fell for a seventh straight week through Friday, per Schwab.
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By the Numbers
Nasdaq Composite, Monday27,477.31, a record
S&P 500, Monday7,773.95, 0.3% from its high
Nasdaq New Lows vs Highs157 vs 23
10-Year Treasury5.28%
Gold Futures, Tuesday$4,186.20, up 0.71%
Index closes Monday, October 5, 2026, per CNBC and AP. New highs and lows per Reuters, mid-morning Monday. Yield per Schwab. Gold per TheStreet, early Tuesday.
A Message From Our Partner
America is splitting in two.
And every day, the chasm gets wider.
My name is Porter Stansberry and as I warned in this interview, the evidence is simply impossible to ignore.
According to a survey conducted by business consulting firm Oliver Wyman Forum, 64% of CEOs reportedly expect to move away from all junior employees in the next couple of years.
Bill Gates, the man who helped put a computer on every desk in America, says certain jobs may need to be protected from machines inside what he calls “Human Reserved” zones.
The human employee is becoming a protected species. In his exact words, “Many jobs will disappear forever.”
This is an economic rupture. The end of an era that I believe will show little mercy to those who lag behind.
Because, for the first time in history, capital can compound without additional human labor.
Case in point, we’re now seeing the rise of something called the “zero-human company”. These are autonomous businesses set up with a team of AI agents working together. No CEO, CFO, CTO and no interns to make the coffee.
Industry and technological progress is about to accelerate beyond all imagination, without bringing most of us along for the ride.
And that means the extraordinary wealth AI creates won’t flow into wages.
Larry Fink, head of BlackRock, which oversees $14 trillion, has warned that AI will concentrate enormous wealth among the companies and investors positioned to capture it.
On one side: the people who own the chips, energy, data centers, platforms and companies powering this revolution.
On the other: everyone else. Those still dependent on a paycheck, the old economy or the investments the AI economy will leave behind.
So which side will you and your family land on?
That could depend on the action you take after watching my critical broadcast with tech investing expert Luke Lango today.
Because this is not simply about AI taking jobs or solving math equations. I believe it is the most important shift in American life and wealth in 250 years.
In the broadcast, Luke and I reveal why Washington is accelerating this shift… which companies are being protected and which are being left for dead… and the three money moves we believe you should make now.
We reveal the stocks to buy, the stocks to sell, and how to position your family on the winning side of what I call America’s New 1776 Moment.
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Good investing,
Porter Stansberry

A Record Built on a Few Shoulders

What the Headlines Lead With

Most coverage this morning leads with the record, and the record is real. The Nasdaq is up 18.2% this year. The S&P 500 is up 13.6%.

The gains came from the top. AI names led again, helped by a dip in oil that let traders focus on earnings growth.

Schneider Electric’s $22.6 billion cash deal for software maker PTC added a takeover bid to the mix. PTC rose about 35% in early trading.

What the Average Stock Is Saying

Below the leaders, the picture is different. A Nasdaq with seven times more new lows than new highs is a Nasdaq carried by a small group.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Index tells the same story from another angle. Seven straight weekly losses is a long losing streak for the typical large company.

Even on a record day, the breadth improved only a little. Equal-weight large caps kept pace with the S&P 500 on Monday, which helped. One good session does not end a seven-week slide.

Banks and homebuilders lagged on Monday. Both live on borrowing costs, and the 10-year is still near 5.28%, close to its highest level since 2002.

Our view: the record measures how much money sits in a handful of AI companies. It says little about the hundreds of other stocks in your index fund.

Why It Matters for Your Portfolio

An S&P 500 index fund looks diversified. It owns 500 companies. In practice, the largest few now drive most of the daily move.

An investor who owns the index owns the concentration too, whether they chose it or not.

That works while AI earnings keep surprising. It cuts the other way when they stop. A record built on a few shoulders falls on the same few.

The service sector adds a second warning. The ISM services survey showed activity slowing in September while its price measure rose. Slower growth with firmer prices is the mix the Fed likes least.

The Week Ahead

Minutes from the Fed’s September meeting arrive Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern. Earnings season opens next week with the big banks.

Watch the new-lows count. If the Nasdaq makes another record while new lows stay above 100, the rally is narrowing further. If new highs overtake new lows, the average stock has joined in.

Worth watching: whether the equal-weight index can post one up week. Eight straight losses would be a warning the leaders cannot hide.

An index can climb on a few shoulders. A portfolio stands on all of them.

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