Weekly Market Commentary: Stocks Tread Water as Market Enters Seasonally Weak Period

Sunflower Bank Weekly Market Commentary: September 2, 2025

Each week, our Wealth Management team analyzes the U.S. stock market and bond market activity and news of the previous week, summarizing their findings into a weekly market update report. The key points of this week's commentary, "Stocks Tread Water as Market Enters Seasonally Weak Period," include:

• The S&P 500 slipped to a slight -0.1% decline in a week with muted price volatility despite the presence of major events. The VIX, a measure of volatility, ended the week at 15.3 – near its lowest level since early April. The low levels of expected volatility come as the market enters a seasonally weak time of year. 
• Technology stocks underperformed the broader market slightly as chip stocks fell under pressure. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index declined -1.5% as Nvidia lagged after a solid earnings report was met with mixed investor enthusiasm.
• Core PCE Inflation rose +0.3% month-over-month as expected, and +2.9% year-over-year, also as expected. The headline inflation index also came in inline with the consensus forecast on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis.

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