The S&P 500 has faced some intense volatility in 2026. After falling more than 8% earlier this year, the index rallied over 7.5% since March 30th.
While its resilience is noted, the underlying numbers show what’s really happening under the hood in the S&P 500.
In reality, the index is largely influenced by a core group of 7-8 stocks that can make or break its performance.
Scott Bauer returned to the Positively Sloped Podcast this week, where he and his son Jake touched on the S&P 500’s top eight detractors — all of whom are featured in this core group of stocks.
It includes every member of the Magnificent Seven — plus one more big-name stock — that led them to come up with a new name for this group: The “New Magnificent Eight.”
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Scott and Jake cover:
- The one mega-cap stock that rounds out the “New Magnificent Eight”
- Their metrics for identifying the S&P’s top eight detractors (it wasn’t performance)
- What these detractors could signal about the health of the market
- How close these stocks are to their all-time highs
- How the S&P 500’s YTD performance is influenced by these eight detractors
See more episodes of Positively Sloped on their YouTube channel
