AllianceBernstein is growing faster than its peers but priced at a discount, according to Goldman Sachs.

Analyst Alexander Blostein upgraded the asset manager to buy from neutral, saying that AllianceBernstein seems to have found the right combination of strategies to grow its fees in a competitive environment.

“We think the market is under appreciating AB’s industry-leading organic fee growth prospects and its differentiated operating margin expansion, resulting in a more durable EPS growth outlook over the next 2 years,” Blostein said.

One reason for AllianceBernstein’s relative strength is its larger exposure to the private credit to its rivals, Blostein said.

— Jesse Pound

Fundstrat head of technical strategy Mark Newton said in a note Monday night that “US Equity markets are likely in a bottoming process, and I feel that time-wise, lows could likely be in place sometime this week.”

“One can’t rule out a retest of lows which would bring about a mild undercut, and drive SPX likely to 4200-4225.  However, this would mark an excellent risk/reward opportunity for an October rally,” he said.

The S&P 500 closed Monday’s session at 4,288.39.

Negative sentiment from the start of the week rolled into Tuesday’s open, with the regional Stoxx 600 index 0.32% lower at 8:15 a.m. London time.

Utilities fell 1.3%, while health-care stocks managed to gain 0.37%.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was flat as Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were both down by around 0.4%.

Barclays downgraded SolarEdge to equal weight, warning that the company and its peer Enphase could be hampered by price cuts and market share losses. SolarEdge dropped nearly 5.4%, while Enphase tumbled 2.7%.

Sunrun dropped 10% after Susquehanna trimmed its price target.

Other renewable names that had a rough start to the month include Plug Power and Bloom Energy, which dropped 10% and 8%, respectively.

–Darla Mercado, Ethan Kraft

The Nasdaq-100 Index rose again Monday, the 14th week in a row that the benchmark for large-cap, nonfinancial stocks traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market rallied on the first trading day of the week.

In a streak noted in an intraday report by BTIG chief market technician Jonathan Krinsky, the last time the Nasdaq-100 failed to advance on the first day of the week was back on June 26. The string of gains even includes Labor Day weekend, when the first day of trading was Tuesday, Sept. 5, and the week of the 4th of July, when Independence Day fell on a Tuesday and interrupted trading.

“At this point the ‘green Monday/first day of week’ streak is not only extremely rare, but just bizarre,” Krinsky wrote. “Interestingly over the course of this streak from late June, the [Nasdaq-100] is down modestly, so the strong starts to the week aren’t leading to any followthrough.”

— Scott Schnipper, Michael Bloom

Municipal bonds typically pull back in September and October, but they could see a pop as the year winds down, Wells Fargo Investment Institute found.

“Municipal bonds have historically seen negative performance during September, and to a lesser extent, October,” wrote municipal analyst Dorian Jamison. He noted that in September 2022, municipal bonds returned -3.8%, the worst month of performance dating back to 2018, according to the Bloomberg U.S. Municipal Bond Index.

These bonds do enjoy a pop in November and December, however. Last November, munis had a return of 4.7%, the best single month of performance going back to 2018, Jamison wrote.

“While past performance is not indicative of future results, we expect that a pullback in the market may potentially offer a more attractive entry point heading into the final quarter of the year, when the technical for munis have traditionally been more favorable,” he said.

Sectors that have outperformed the broader muni market include tobacco, transportation and health care, Jamison said.

–Darla Mercado

Stock futures opened little changed on Monday, following a session that saw the yield on the 10-year Treasury climb to its highest level since 2007.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4 points, or 0.01%. S&P 500 futures climbed 0.03%, while Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 0.04%.

— Brian Evans