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Martin Marietta Materials is one of the United States' largest producer of construction aggregates (crushed stone, sand, and gravel). In 2024, Martin Marietta sold 191 million tons of aggregates. Martin Marietta's most important markets include Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, accounting for most of its sales. The company also produces cement in Texas and uses its aggregates in its asphalt and ready-mixed concrete businesses. Martin’s magnesia specialties business produces magnesia-based chemical products and dolomitic lime.

Ecolab is a provider of water, hygiene, and energy technology and services. The company delivers comprehensive solutions to promote safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use, and improve operational efficiency for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality, and industrial sectors. Ecolab has over 48,000 employees worldwide. The shares are a component of the S&P 500.

So far this year, the mega-cap index gains have been muted, as the trillion-dollar club just isn't participating. Looking at the most-popular indices, the NYSE leads with a 6% jump; followed by the Dow Industrials (+5%); the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 (both up a bit more than 3%); the S&P 100 (+2.5%); the S&P MidCap 400 (+2.3%); the Nasdaq (+1.7%); and the S&P SmallCap 600 (+1.6%). According to www.stockcharts.com, there are nine companies with trillion-dollar market-caps. By size, they are AAPL, NVDA, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, META, AVGO, TSLA, BRK.B. So we now have the Magnificent 9, with four names from Information Technology, two from Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services, and one from Financial. Year to date, AAPL is off 7%, NVDA is down 1%, MSFT is down 2.4%, AMZN is up 6%, GOOGL is down 2%, META has soared 23%, AVGO is up 1%, TSLA is down 19%, and BRK.B has gained 4.3%. Five of the largest S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 market caps are down in 2025. So where has the real action been this year in the S&P 500 and the QQQ? PLTR has exploded 49%; CEG has soared 40%; UBER has jumped 28%; SMCI is up 27%; CRWD 26%; GE and TPR 25%; CVS 24%; TPL, PM, META, and FFIV 23%; NEM, SBUX, and VST 22%; KLAC 20%; BSX 19%; and NUE, HWM, STLD, MPWR, and RL 18%. That represents a pretty diversified list of sectors and industries, which is generally bullish for the market overall. On the other end, EIX has plunged 28%; SWKS and MRNA have dropped 26%; FMC and STZ have fallen 25%; ON is off 24%; DECK 22%; PCG 22%; AES, LVS, and TSLA 19%; BF.B 17%; and CRL 16%. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

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.