Markets were relatively flat on Thursday, with the S&P 500 down 0.02% on the day. That said, markets were carried by its largest names.

Below are highlights from the NDW Morning Update Video for the morning of 09/25. Access the video on the NDW Morning Update Video page.

• Markets were relatively flat on Thursday, with the S&P 500 down 0.02% on the day. That said, markets were carried by its largest names, with the Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF (XLG) fund rising 0.13%, whereas equal weight S&P 500 (SPXEWI) fell 0.53%, continuing the theme of mega cap outperformance in recent weeks.
• September has been a great month for growth stocks, allowing both the Nasdaq Composite and the Nasdaq-100 (NDX) to set new all-time highs on Wednesday for the first time in three months. NDX is outperforming the average stock, represented by SPXEWI, by almost 8% since the end of August.
• The rebound in growth stocks has been due in part to the strength of technology. The sector has gained 28 signals in our DALI rankings this month, moving it up from 3rd to the 1st rank, with it most recently overtaking healthcare on Thursday.
• Sentiment has been extremely low recently, with more than 50% of respondents to AAII’s sentiment survey predicting that market will move lower over the next six months. Bearish sentiment tends to be a positive signs for markets, and this April and May of 2025 are the most recent instances in which most investors were bearish over a two-week period.  
• As highlighted in yesterday's featured article, October has historically been the most volatile months of the year. Some of the more notorious market meltdowns have occurred during the month, including 1978 (-9%), 1987 (-22%), and 2008 (-17%). However, the S&P 500 (SPX) has had more double-digit gains in October than it has double-digit losses since 1950.