No. 31, July 31, 2026 · The Count of the Market

The Trend of the Market

S. & P. 500 Gains 1.0 Per Cent on the Week—Cumulative Advance-Decline Line 4,111 Issues Below July Peak—New Lows Exceed New Highs Second Week—The Week’s Count Better than Even

By the Editor

The S. & P. 500 finished the week at 7,489.72, up 1.05 per cent, 1.2 per cent below its high for the year of 7,580.06, set May 29. Underneath the average, the count of the market has gone the other way. The cumulative advance-decline line made its peak on July 2 at 6,988. In the four weeks since, it has given back 4,111 issues, and it now stands at 2,877.

The week’s own count was better than even: 5,863 issues advanced and 4,978 declined. An average that rises while the count falls is being carried by fewer stocks.

New
Lows

New lows have outnumbered new highs in each of the last two weeks. This week the exchanges recorded 1,157 new highs against 1,187 new lows. The ten-week average of issues advancing is 50.2 per cent, the lowest reading since mid-May.

Market Charts

The Price of the Market Against the Count of the Market

— Weekly, January 2, 2026 – July 31, 2026 —

Fig. 1.—S. & P. 500 weekly close, drawn as an open ribbon (above), and the cumulative advance-decline line for all U.S. exchanges (below), with readings under zero on the stippled ground, January 2, 2026 to July 31, 2026. Since July 2 the index has gained 0.1 per cent while the line has fallen 4,111 issues.

Per Cent of Issues Advancing

Fig. 2.—Weekly share of issues that advanced, measured from 50 per cent. Hatched bars mark up weeks for the average stock, open bars on the stippled ground mark down weeks. The heavy line is the ten-week average.

New Highs Less New Lows

Fig. 3.—Weekly new 52-week highs minus new lows, all exchanges. Below the line every week since July 24. The heavy line is the four-week average.

MARKET STATISTICS

	S. & P. 500		Advances & Declines			New
	Close	Change	Net	Cumulative	Pct. Adv.	Highs	Lows	Tone

The last eight weeks. Tone compares the week’s breadth with the week’s price move. Back numbers for all 31 weeks since January 2, 2026 are on file.

From the Editor

Why We Call It the Count of the Market

A Note on Col. Leonard P. Ayres, 1879–1946, and the Daily Tally He Began

Leonard Ayres served as chief statistician of the Army in the First World War. He later became vice president and economist of the Cleveland Trust Company, where he wrote its monthly Business Bulletin. With his assistant, James F. Hughes, he kept a daily tally of how many stocks rose and how many fell. He called it the count of the market.

“I think this will make an interesting stock market statistic.”AYRES TO HUGHES, AS HUGHES RECALLED IT IN 1951

The average tells you how far the market moved. The count tells you how many stocks went along. This publication keeps that count every week, in the manner Ayres began it.