Market Report for Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Stocks stumbled today, megatech limping like a greyhound after a night at the track. Breadth was positive, indicating the small fry didn’t drown quite as fast as the whales. From the Zen riddler lectern, Powell reprised his comments from last week, and in the Q&A, discovered valuations.
Level Change 9/23/25 (%)
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
-0.2 Dow
-1.0 Nasdaq
-0.7 Nasdaq 100
-0.6 S&P 500
-0.1 S&P 400
-0.2 S&P 600
Wall Street pulled a muscle.
After yesterday’s buoyant romp, the market remembered gravity, with the Nasdaq shedding a full point while Nvidia and Amazon played ballast in the wrong hot-air balloon. Equal-weight S&P beat its cap-weighted cousin, proof that when the giants sneeze, the runts don’t always catch pneumonia.
The day’s story was less “panic in the streets” and more “fine, let’s try defensive ETFs for a change.” Gold glittered, Treasuries inched higher, and utilities got a pat on the head.
On the geopolitical stage, President Trump turned the UN into open-mic night. Yesterday NATO-skeptic, today Ukraine’s hype man, he said Kyiv could reclaim lost land and maybe tack on some Russian acreage. Asked if he thinks NATO should shoot down Russian planes, he answered: “Yes, I do.”
Back in Powell-land, the Fed chair unfurled his thesaurus of dampened enthusiasm. Growth is “moderating,” housing “weak,” spending “slowing.” Risks are “two-sided.” Last week’s quarter-point cut, he insisted, was not “aggressive easing” but “risk management,” as if rebranding stops Wall Street from pawing his leg. And equity prices? “Fairly highly valued.” Bears likened that to calling the Hindenburg “somewhat flammable.”
Across the table, Fed Governor and Trump standard-bearer Bowman shouted from the dovish bleachers: cut now or fall “behind the curve.” Chicago’s Goolsbee put neutral a good 100-125 bp below the current rate but warned against swinging the axe too hard lest inflation return. Atlanta’s Bostic played middle school hall monitor: risks on both sides, move along.
Nvidia, $160B richer from its OpenAI flirtation, fell 2.8% anyway. The Street is beginning to notice the circularity: Nvidia funds startups, startups buy Nvidia chips, and Jensen Huang cackles all the way to the leather-jacket rack. Bank of America called it “ecosystem investing,” like buying your own dinner and tipping yourself on the way out.
So, yes, breadth improved. But when the titans bleed, the minnows just look healthy by comparison.
— Jason Kelly
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Enjoyed today’s market misadventures? They come around often. So should you.
