It's been a week.

A few steady thoughts and some top posts from the week

Feb 06, 2026

The past two trading sessions have been the most notable of 2026 so far. The S&P 500 has slipped nearly 2%, but the real pain is being felt beneath the surface.

Several stocks have posted aggressive declines, masked by index-level performance, as returns across individual stocks continue to diverge.

As of yesterday’s close, 67% of S&P 500 constituents were trading more than 5% below their 52-week highs. From there, the drawdowns deepen across a meaningful portion of the index:

38% are >15% off highs
20% are >25% off highs
6% are >40% off highs

This distribution of returns stands out as market performance continues to be carried by a narrow slice of stocks. Recent declines have occurred alongside earnings results and guidance that are better than price action would suggest, making the gap between fundamentals and prices worth monitoring as this unfolds.

Below are are the Top-and-Bottoming performing stocks for January 2026.

In our annual review meetings, the message to our clients has been… expect a turbulent and highly volatile year in politics and investment markets. The noise will be loud and the swings may be extreme but the end result may be an uneventful year of returns. Mid-term election years have historically provided these types of years. More to come…