There’s Not Much There There
* There is less that meets the eye in the U.S. stock market
* Market breadth has a foul odor, the average stock is falling, crude oil and interest rates are rising and complacency reigns…
The quote “there’s not much there there” comes from Gertrude Stein’s book Everybody’s Autobiography written about 90 years ago. The phrase conveys that a place, person or situation lacks substance or death and originated from Stein’s reflections about her childhood neighborhood in Oakland, California. It was Stein’s feeling that the area had changed dramatically with the familiar landmarks and very essence of her youth gone (leaving a sense of emptiness and loss). Stein believed that time and development erased the “there” of her childhood city.
At 5:30 AM S&P futures are -39 handles.
More interestingly is that Nasdaq futures are -310 handles — with, an infrequent occurrence that memory/semis AND hyperscalers are all falling down together.
A rejection by the president of an Iranian cease fire proposal has resulted in a +$3 rise in the price of crude oil.
For four months we have cautioned that the market IS NOT BROADENING OUT (despite a near-universal view on the part of the bullish cabal) and that market breadth is foul.
Importantly, several leading market sectors (e.g. financials/banks) are clearly rolling over — along with the Russell Index ($IWM) and the equal weighted S&P Index ($RSP):
As noted in my post in the Comment Section and in my Diary, I put back on my index shorts at around 8 PM Sunday night:
Sunday Night Trading
From last night:
Dougie Kass
8PM Sunday Night
Back shorting the Indices:
- SPY $769.83
- QQQ $744.46
Position: Short SPY (S), QQQ (S)
BY Doug Kass · Sep 28, 2026, 5:41 AM EDT
Position: Short SPY (S), QQQ (S)
