🟠 Breakdown day with less than 250 stocks down. // All breadth ratios bearish. // 20s back to neutral range with an elevated bullish reading. // VIX unchanged below 16. // Market Signal remains CAUTIOUSLY BULLISH. 1. The major averages recovered from a sharp morning decline to finish little changed on Thursday as crude oil retreated substantially from its session high. The $SPX and $NDX ended flat while the $DJIA (-0.3%) logged a modest loss. // Communication services (+1.9%) led while health care (+0.7%) and energy (+0.4%) also gained; materials, utilities, and consumer staples each fell 1.0% and information technology finished -0.3% after being down more than 1% earlier. // Oil surged above $96 before backing off after a Reuters report that a potential phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is being discussed, settling +2.4% at $94.68. $META jumped 4.5% to year-to-date highs as Muse continued to drive its September rally, semiconductors recovered most of their early losses, and $ORCL lagged after a force majeure notice on a New Mexico data center. // Decliners still outpaced advancers by nearly 2-to-1 on the NYSE, pointing to a weaker underlying session than the flat headline finishes suggested. New York Fed President Williams said another rate increase this year is reasonable. // Initial claims stayed low at 197K and new home sales beat at 684K. Treasuries failed to recover with the 2-year yield up 2 bps to 4.91% and the 10-year yield up 7 bps to 5.18%. 2. Breakdown day with less than 250 stocks down. // All breadth ratios bearish. // 20s back to neutral range with an elevated bullish reading. // VIX unchanged below 16. // Market Signal remains CAUTIOUSLY BULLISH. 3.EOD: $ADPT, $GLND, $PL, $PUBM, $RVMD, $RVTY, $SN, $TEM, $TWST, $XBI. ANTS: none. SWINGS: $MU, $NOW, ethereum:0xe0b7ad7f8f26e2b00c8b47b5df370f15f90fcf48. EP: $QMCO.