Market Commentary

@ The Corner

Small Cap stocks showing that they may want to take the lead.

Wait, the 600 is leading the 500 by 600 Basis Points!?

Click For an Audio Summary In our previous edition we shared how collective stock market participants were improving the structural health of the market by broadening out its participation. This process began after the quick but short-lived drop in the stock market back in mid-November. Since then, the broadening trade has been in place and increased its momentum in early 2026. Part of this broadening storyline has been small size companies (a.k.a. small caps) as they have be

cornerstoneams

Jan 215 min read

A look at market breadth through the view of Equal-Weighted S&P 500 to Weighted S&P 500

Taking Stock of the Stock Market

Click For an Audio Summary Collective stock market participants are putting a different market landscape together in recent weeks relative to what we had grown accustomed to in recent years. To be fair, this developing change can disappear quickly, which has also occurred in recent years. We have dedicated many editions over the last few years to our observation of the structural weakness within the stock market. If the stock market were an eight-cylinder engine, we would des

cornerstoneams

Jan 155 min read

Hours of work needed to buy Median Sales Price of New Homes Sold

A Socioeconomic view of Housing

Click For an Audio Summary Let’s make this edition a bit more personal than what is customary. Throughout editions, at times, I offer a personal note as a sliver of an add-on within X piece in order to share additional perspective. Today, I will offer more personal experience coupled with data that supports various observations of recent years relative to housing. To begin, in order to give some personal perspective relative to the topic of housing, for various reasons I have

cornerstoneams

Dec 11, 20257 min read

Chart analyzing the hours worked needed to buy the S&P 500

Housing Affordability and the Stock Market

Click For an Audio Summary Housing affordability, or the lack thereof, seemingly is a constant topic for discussion throughout society. Whether explicitly stated and discussed or simply inferred within an unrelated topic, the lack of affordable housing for the general citizenry is a topic that is often front and center. Upon hearing this topic addressed, at times, I will simultaneously hear an impromptu dialogue within myself that offers, “If you think housing is expensive, y

cornerstoneams

Dec 4, 20255 min read

A chart comparing the traditional, weighted S&P 500 compared to the equal-weighted S&P 500.

Are we Sure we are in a Roaring Bull Market?

The significance of the above is that narrow market backdrops lead to problematic price trends, given time. The problem is this narrow storyline has continued for quite a long while now with no change in sight.

cornerstoneams

Nov 20, 20253 min read

A chart of Market Capitalization as a % of Nominal GDP to examine stock market valuations

The Stock Market has gone Stratospheric via this Measure

Click For an Audio Summary Here in 2025 we have dedicated several editions to the topic of market valuations. We always like to say that price informs you of very little, but valuation tells all. Taking a market’s price and placing it into context, via a valuation process, offers an invaluable perspective for the price of the market in question. If you are informed of the price of nearly anything, an immediate process begins of placing that price into a valuation context. Two

cornerstoneams

Nov 6, 20254 min read

A chart depicting the performance of the S&P 500 and the S&P 600

This is What a Robust Market Looks Like

Click For an Audio Summary We have dedicated more editions to the structural integrity of the stock market in 2025 than we have in recent years combined. We have done this because the structural health of the stock market has been sorely missing in this bull market run. What is amazing, when viewed through a historical lens, is how the lack of structural health continues to unfold to the current day. For our part, within these editions when addressing this topic, we have offe

cornerstoneams

Oct 29, 20254 min read

A comparison of the S&P 500 Equal Weight and the S&P 500 over two years.

It Just Keeps Moving Lower Informing the Stock Market is Getting Narrower

Click For an Audio Summary A couple of months ago we briefly touched on today’s subject title within an edition at that time. Beyond that more recent piece, we have also delved into this issue over various editions in the previous year-plus. Every time we share this topic, we leave it with a general view that we will continue monitoring and sharing according to what unfolds within this stock market observation as time rolls on. The central focus is that the stock market has b

cornerstoneams

Oct 21, 20255 min read

Risk on, Risk Off

Click For an Audio Summary In our previous edition we shared a perspective of how collective market participants, within the stock market, are viewing the consumer discretionary sector compared to the more conservative consumer staples sector. Historically, when participants expect some level of economic vibrancy, as they look out on the timeline, they will be more enthusiastic toward the consumer discretionary sector as compared to the consumer staples sector. Here, they wil

cornerstoneams

Oct 15, 20255 min read