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American International Group is one of the largest insurance and financial services firms in the world and has a global footprint. It operates through a wide range of subsidiaries that provide property, casualty, and life insurance. The company recently spun off its life insurance operations (Corebridge), but still retains a majority stake.

Based in Chicago, CME Group operates exchanges giving investors, suppliers, and businesses the ability to trade futures and derivatives based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign currencies, energy, metals, and commodities. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange was founded in 1898 and in 2002 completed its IPO. Since then, CME Group has consolidated parts of the industry by merging with crosstown rival CBOT Holdings in 2007 before acquiring Nymex Holdings in 2008 and NEX in 2018. In addition, the company has a 27% stake in S&P Dow Jones Indices, making the Chicago Mercantile Exchange the exclusive venue to trade and clear S&P futures contracts. Through CME’s acquisition of NEX, it also expanded into cash foreign exchange, fixed-income trading, and collateral optimization.

MSCI is a leading provider of investment-decision support tools worldwide. Its line of products and services includes indices, analytical tools, and ESG and climate research products. The stock is a component of the S&P 500. The company has approximately 6,100 employees.

Despite volatile headlines, price action has tightened up since mid-January. For the S&P 500 (SPX), price is sitting in the top half of a range going back to early November. While certainly not textbook or picture perfect, the index could be tracing out a complex and non-typical bullish cup-with-handle formation. To complete the pattern, a strong break above the all-time closing high of 6,119 is needed -- preferably with some immediate follow-through action. The current trading range is about 355 points wide, so a breakout could open the door for an initial measured move to the 6,300 area and possibly higher. Since mid-January, the price range for the SPX has constricted to about 200 points and some of the short- to intermediate-term moving averages have started to tighten. Price at the top of a range along with slim volatility often is a bullish sign that an index or individual stock is setting up for a breakout move. The SPX also is in a favorable spot based on price channels and volatility bands. On the daily chart, price lies between the middle and upper Bollinger Bands and is in the same spot regarding the 20-day price channels. On the weekly chart, the SPX has been trending between the middle and upper weekly Bollinger Bands and between the middle and upper 20-week price channels on a closing basis since November 2023. The QQQ has seen less strength, trading between the weekly Bollinger Bands and weekly price channels since early September.