There are no real signs of stress in the S&P 500.
When we look at the chart, there is upside potential. How much upside? The chart may look a bit top-heavy. The telcom sector is weighing against upside growth, but today there isn’t much evidence of that. The S&P 500 is on pace to close October with its seventh straight month of gains, its longest such streak in more than four years.
2017’s relatively placid advance looks more like a long-term moving average.
The S&P 500 rose 3 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,576, as of 1:15 p.m. Eastern time. It’s been on a gentle upward slope for most of this year, and its modest decline of 0.3 percent on Monday followed seven straight weeks of gains.