Market Pulse: Friday, January 9, 2026

Friday’s tape leaned constructive and fairly balanced, the indexes moved higher and internals stayed supportive even as the jobs report delivered a mixed headline set. The S&P 500 gained 0.65%, the Nasdaq rose 0.81%, and the Russell 2000 added 0.78%. Market breadth stayed positive with 281 advancers vs 220 decliners (a 1.28 A/D ratio) and advancing volume at 57.1%. Volatility eased, with VIX slipping to 14.50.

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Market Breadth: Still Positive, Not as Hot as Thursday

Metric	Jan 7	Jan 8	Jan 9
Advance/Decline Ratio	0.29	2.42	1.28
Advances	114	356	281
Declines	389	147	220
Advancing Volume	—	60.7%	57.1%
Stocks Near 52-Week Highs	15	34	37
Stocks Near 52-Week Lows	16	2	5
% Above 20-Day MA	56.9%	68.2%	67.8%
% Above 50-Day MA	63.0%	67.8%	68.6%
% Above 200-Day MA	62.0%	63.8%	64.4%

What the Numbers Say

• Over three sessions, breadth tells a clean story, a sharp reset on Jan 7, a strong snapback on Jan 8, then a steady follow-through on Jan 9.
• Participation above key moving averages recovered into the high-60s after Wednesday’s dip, which keeps the broader trend backdrop constructive.
• Near-highs expanded again (37) while near-lows stayed contained (5), a good sign that leadership remains intact.

Explore the full dashboard: Market breadth.

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Market Performance: Broad Gains Into the Weekend

Index	Close	Change	% Change
S&P 500	6,966.28	+44.82	+0.65%
Dow Jones	49,504.07	+237.96	+0.48%
Nasdaq	23,671.35	+191.33	+0.81%
Russell 2000	2,624.22	+20.32	+0.78%

A quick three-session context:

• Jan 7: S&P 500 -0.34%, Dow -0.94%, Nasdaq +0.16%, Russell -0.29%
• Jan 8: S&P 500 +0.01%, Dow +0.55%, Nasdaq -0.44%, Russell +1.11%
• Jan 9: S&P 500 +0.65%, Dow +0.48%, Nasdaq +0.81%, Russell +0.78%

The pattern across the last three sessions reads like a reset, Wednesday’s breadth break was followed by Thursday’s repair, and Friday added follow-through with all four majors green.

Explore the full dashboard: Market snapshot.

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Sector View: Materials and Tech Lead, Health Care Lags

Friday’s leadership was broad, and the “laggards” list still had multiple green sectors.

• Leaders: Materials (XLB +1.60%), Technology (XLK +1.32%), Utilities (XLU +1.24%), Consumer Discretionary (XLY +1.21%), Industrials (XLI +1.10%)
• Laggards: Health Care (XLV -0.51%), Financials (XLF -0.30%), Real Estate (XLRE +0.15%), Energy (XLE +0.26%), Communication Services (XLC +0.37%)

This looks like a constructive mix, cyclicals participated, tech reasserted, and defensives were not under real pressure.

Explore the full dashboard: Sector performance.

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Volatility: Back Below 15

Metric	Jan 7	Jan 8	Jan 9
VIX Level	15.38	15.45	14.50

Index ETF implied volatility stayed mostly in a low regime:

• SPY IV: 9.37% (Low)
• QQQ IV: 13.20% (Low)
• IWM IV: 15.68% (Normal)
• DIA IV: 10.57% (Low)

The takeaway is simple, the market absorbed a major macro headline, then volatility eased rather than escalated.

Explore the full dashboard: Volatility.

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Headlines Moving Markets

A few headlines that matched Friday’s macro setup:

• U.S. payrolls rose 50,000 in December, less than expected, unemployment rate falls to 4.4% (CNBC) Slower hiring can cool rate expectations, but mixed details often produce cross-currents by sector.
• Employment Situation news release (BLS) The official release provides the details that markets tend to trade, including wages and participation.
• U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, October 2025 (BEA) Trade and growth narratives can influence cyclicals when breadth is already improving.
• Federal Reserve Board announces the designation of the Chairs and Deputy Chairs of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks for 2026 (Federal Reserve) Governance and policy continuity headlines matter most in low-volatility regimes.
• Mortgage rates drop to lowest level in nearly 3 years as Trump orders buying of $200 billion in mortgage bonds (CNBC) Rate-sensitive groups can react quickly when mortgage policy headlines hit tape.

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Technical Snapshot (SPY)

SPY remains above key trend markers. Here is the three-day SMA box:

Level	Jan 7	Jan 8	Jan 9
20-day SMA	683.41	683.80	684.22
50-day SMA	677.98	678.27	678.40
200-day SMA	625.44	626.10	626.70

Near-term pivot structure (based on the prior session reference levels, Jan 8):

• Resistance: 690.86 (R1), then 692.27 (R2)
• Pivot: 689.18
• Support: 687.76 (S1), then 686.08 (S2)

If price stays above the short-term averages while breadth remains net-positive, pullbacks tend to stay orderly. If breadth fades while volatility rises, those pivot levels start to matter a lot more.

Explore the full dashboard: Support & Resistance levels.

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What to Watch Next

A short checklist for the next session:

• Breadth follow-through: Can A/D stay above 1.0 with advancing volume holding over 50%?
• Post-jobs positioning: Does leadership stay broad, or does it narrow back into a single factor bid?
• Volatility drift: Does VIX remain below 15, or start trending higher into the next macro catalyst?

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Bottom Line

Jan 9 delivered a clean “risk-on” read, all four major benchmarks finished green, breadth stayed supportive, and volatility eased after the jobs report.

The near-term tell remains participation. If the market can keep breadth in the 1.0+ range while the VIX stays contained, the path of least resistance remains higher, even if leadership rotates day to day.

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Market Pulse provides daily analysis of S&P 500 market breadth, sector rotation, and volatility signals to help investors understand what’s happening beneath the surface. Data sourced from our real-time market breadth collectors. For personalized planning, explore our retirement calculators, investment tools, and FIRE planning resources.