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It’s a nasty week in the markets, so there’s never been a more important time to stay informed. We’ll be hosting a two-hour livestream tonight for the Rich Habits Network to break it all down. Click here to start your free trial and join us!

Before you read on — make sure you’re following us on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever else you watch the show! We want you to get notified when each new episode is released.

A quick breakdown — in case you don’t have the time.

Members of the Rich Habits Network have had the opportunity to invest in the following companies over the last several months:

Ongoing opportunities include:

This is a very split market beneath the surface.

Right now, about 16% of S&P 500 stocks are trading at 52-week highs, while roughly 5% sit at 52-week lows. That kind of divergence is rare — and historically meaningful.

This reality has only occurred three other times over the past several decades: July 1990, August 2015, and March 2025. In each case, the S&P 500 experienced at least a 10% correction within the following two months.

A pullback in the S&P 500 is not guaranteed, but leadership is narrowing and dispersion is rising. When more stocks are breaking down at the same time others are making new highs, it often reflects underlying stress rather than broad-based strength.

Today’s Rich Habits Newsletter is brought to you by Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build your portfolio for the long haul with stocks, options, bonds, crypto, and more.

Beyond the assets, Public integrates AI in ways that are actually useful. You can get real-time context on why a stock you care about is moving, instant earnings call summaries—you can even build a custom index from a prompt.

👉 Episode 155: The Advice Your Parents Gave You That’s Now Wrong

In this week’s Monday-morning episode of the Rich Habits Podcast (linked here) — Austin and Robert break down the financial advice our parents gave us that no longer works in today’s economy.

This episode isn’t about blaming past generations. It’s about understanding that the rules have changed — and updating your strategy for building wealth in 2026 and beyond.

Here’s what they covered…

The takeaway: your parents’ advice wasn’t wrong — it was right for their economy. But building wealth today requires a new playbook.

👉 Q&A: Buying a Second Home, Lofty Career Goals, & How to Handle Cash

Here’s a link to the Q&A episode that was posted this morning.

You can submit questions for these episodes by asking them inside of the Rich Habits Network, replying to this email, or sending us a DM on Instagram.

The Rich Habits Podcast is available on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, YouTube, and wherever else you get your content!

This market is rewarding breadth — not just big tech.

A look at S&P 500 companies by YTD return decile shows a sharp divergence beneath the surface. Nearly 27% of companies in the Materials sector sit in the top return decile so far this year, while Energy, Industrials, and Staples also show heavy concentration among the best performers.

On the other end of the spectrum, about 29% of Technology companies fall into the worst-performing decile, and roughly half of the sector sits in either the bottom or second-worst return bucket.

The selloff this week alone has wiped $1 trillion from software and services stocks as the market debates AI’s threat to these companies. Communication Services and Financials are also skewed toward the lower end of the performance distribution.

The U.S. economy is being carried by services — and the momentum just picked up.

U.S. services activity accelerated in December at the fastest pace in more than a year. The ISM Services Index jumped to 54.4, its highest reading since October 2024, easily beating expectations and signaling solid expansion in the largest part of the economy.

Demand is doing the heavy lifting. New orders rose by the most since September, business activity climbed to a one-year high, and export bookings saw their strongest growth in over a year. That pickup filtered through to hiring as well, with services employment posting its healthiest gain since February.

The contrast with manufacturing is becoming clearer. While services strengthened, factory activity continued to contract, highlighting a two-speed economy where consumer- and service-driven demand remains resilient even as goods production struggles.

Price pressures, however, are cooling. ISM’s prices-paid index slowed to its lowest level in nine months, suggesting that growth in services is occurring without a renewed inflation surge – an important signal for policymakers.

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Disclaimer: This is not financial advice or a recommendation for any investment. The content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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Disclosure: This content is sponsored by NEOS Investments. The creator is compensated by NEOS to discuss NEOS ETFs. This content is for informational purposes only, and is not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice, and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell any security. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Before investing, carefully review the NEOS ETFs prospectus at neosfunds.com.