The stock market essentially flat-lined on Wednesday after Tuesday's ugliness. Once again, there may be some trepidation ahead of today's initial jobless claims and Friday's very important September nonfarm payrolls report. For a second day, the S&P 500, S&P 100, and S&P 400 closed right on their 10-day exponential moving average (EMA), while the Nasdaq and the Nasdaq 100 bounced off their 21-day EMAs. As we said, the S&P 500 completed a number of bullish reversal patterns in September. Based on the size of those formations, we could see a measured move to the 6,000 to 6,500 region. The initial rally off the bottom on August 5 to the top on August 30 appears to be the first wave higher. The pullback into the closing low on September 6 looks like the first counter-trend move, or second wave. The possible rally from there would be the beginning of the third wave. If the above is correct, the index might just crawl upward until we reach 6,000 or higher. That's because the price action in wave three generally is very calm, as pullbacks are small and the market does a good job of not letting in investors that are waiting for a larger pullback. That would also suggest that October might not witness the volatility normally seen during a presidential election year. Let's not forget that we have the third-quarter EPS season just ahead and, at the very least, a lot of single-stock volatility is possible. In addition, the next Fed meeting is on November 7 and the last 2024 meeting is on December 18. We don't think these will matter much. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

If one were to ask the average investor to name the leading S&P 500 sector this year, Information Technology might very well be the most-common answer, even after the recent tough few months. But that answer would be wrong, as the Utilities (XLU) sector is leading the pack so far in 2024, with an incredible 26% return (which doesn't include dividends). Should the masses say that semiconductor stocks represent the leading industry, they would be correct. For 2024, XLU has soared 26%; Communication Services 20%; Financial 19%; Consumer Staples 18%; Healthcare, Industrials, Information Technology, and Real Estate about 15%; Materials 9%; Consumer Discretionary 8%; and Energy 4%. So there are very broad gains, unlike in recent years. One could try to make the case that the leadership leans defensive, but we disagree. Many stocks in Utilities have surged due to the coming increased power demand from the buildout in data centers and AI. Meanwhile, Healthcare, also considered defensive, has been boosted by weight-loss drugs, which reflects R&D as well as innovation. Strength in Utilities has been led by conventional electricity stocks the often have large capitalization, such as NEE (+44%), SO (+31%), CEG (+69%), AEP (+30%), and VST (+123%). Communication Services also is led by large-cap "utility type" issues such as VZ (+24%) and T (+35%). Unfortunately, Utilities make up a mere 2.5% of the S&P 500, Consumer Staples 6%, and Real Estate 2.4%. The monster in the room remains Information Technology, with a 32% weighting. That is almost equal to the next three largest sectors (Financial, Healthcare, and Consumer Discretionary) combined. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

Value stocks -- a market segment that includes high-yield stocks -- outperformed growth stocks in 2022. That's a recent rarity, as for the past decade-plus, the performance record has favored growth. But in 2022, The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines gave a lift to some of the cyclical companies (energy and regional banks) that had lagged in recent quarters, and value stocks outpaced growth stocks that year. While growth stocks have retaken the lead since 2023, the Federal Reserve continues to keep interest rates high to fend off inflation. This could possibly cap multiple expansion for growth companies in coming quarters. In any event, the value sector is the place to achieve income.

Corning is a leader in materials science, specializing in the production of glass, ceramics, and optical fiber. The firm supplies its products for a wide range of applications, from flat-panel displays in televisions to gasoline particulate filters in automobiles to optical fiber for broadband access, with a leading share in many of its end markets.