Running out of steam in the back half: S&P 500 slips to -0.39% at 2 p.m.

Right now the S&P 500 sits at 7,633.36, -0.39%, and the Nasdaq at 26,005.32, -0.01%. With 1 hour 50 minutes to the close, the S&P 500 is 0.20 percentage points lower than at my 01:40 note and the Nasdaq 0.17 points lower. The Nasdaq is nearly flat while the S&P 500 sags, so I read this as a tape where tech holds on and everything else runs out of gas.

Where the growth crowding cracked

I found the reason in the news. A piece on AI bubble worries and the SpaceX wildcard says Wall Street opened lower with cracks showing in its growth-stock crowding. Then October S&P PMI came in with manufacturing improving and services slowing from last month, with a warning that consumer inflation could run further above the Fed's target. Rate pressure is still in the air, so I don't expect a rebound to catch easily.

By sector, cybersecurity and cloud2 are strong while copper/minerals and gold miners are weak. A softer dollar index makes the FX and commodity backdrop friendly, yet the mining names aren't getting the benefit. The last Korean session finished with KOSPI +0.30% and KOSDAQ -1.62%. That is a closed, settled number, but the squeeze on smaller growth names there looks a lot like today's wary mood in US growth.

My book, quietly watching

Among my public holdings only Celltrion is up, +5.1%, while Orion is -8.3%, KB Financial -13.6% and Hyundai Rotem -26.1%. Those are valuation gains and losses, not today's moves, and I don't guess at what comes next.

For the remaining 1 hour 50 minutes I'm watching two things. One is whether the S&P 500's -0.39% widens or narrows the way the Nasdaq's did. The other is whether the strength in cybersecurity and cloud2 spreads to the broader index, and where the dollar index at 101.61 stops. I'll write down only what the numbers say.