Note: All prices are as of the European morning of 23 September 2026, before the US open. Nothing here is a forecast of the release or of any price.
1. SPY, the S&P 500
Trading at $773.50, up 1.55 percent on the day, 1.66 percent on the week and 1.31 percent on the month. It sits at 96 percent of a 52-week range of 629 to 779.
This is the broad read and the reference point. PMI is a US activity survey and SPY is the widest US equity exposure on the board, so it tells you whether any post-print move is broad or concentrated in a few names.
Worth noting where it sits. At 96 percent of its 52-week range, the index has priced a lot of good news already, which is the context any upside surprise has to work against.
2. SOXL, semiconductors
Trading at $141.93, up 14.77 percent on the day and 40.34 percent on the week, from a monthly low of $101.13. Despite that run it sits at only 42 percent of a 52-week range of 28 to 302.
This is on the list for the opposite reason to SPY. It has run on a memory and capital expenditure cycle that a domestic activity survey barely touches. Micron trades at $1,044 against a 52-week low of $155, and ApeX lists the rest of the complex alongside it: MU, NVDA, AMD, AVGO, MRVL, INTC, SKHYNIX, SAMSUNG, DRAM and CXMT.
That makes today a test of the divergence. If a soft print drags the tape and semis hold, the split is structural. If they go with it, the run was positioning.
3. XAU, gold
Trading at $4,362, down 0.31 percent on the day and 7.13 percent on the month, against a 52-week range of 3,750 to 5,586.
Gold is here for the rate channel rather than the growth one. It responds to what the print does to Fed expectations, and those have moved a long way this month: the September decision priced an increase as the base case, and the market has spent September pricing no cuts at all in 2026.
A hot print pushes that further and pressures gold. A soft one is the first argument in months for the other direction, which is why gold is the cleanest expression of a downside surprise on this list.
4. CL, WTI crude
Trading at $89.99, down 4.86 percent on the day and 12.14 percent on the week, though still up 5.86 percent on the month.
Crude is the fastest demand read available and it has already moved hard. That weekly fall is the largest on this list after SOXL, and it has happened without the Strait of Hormuz reopening, which is still priced at 17.5 percent to return to normal traffic by year end.
A supply shock that has not resolved, with the price falling anyway, is a demand signal. Today's survey is a direct read on the same thing.
5. EWY, South Korea
Trading at $189.16, up 4.33 percent on the day, 7.34 percent on the week and 8.94 percent on the month, at 87 percent of a 52-week range of 78 to 221.
Korea is the global manufacturing bellwether. It exports semiconductors, ships and machinery, so it reads world demand rather than US demand, and the same morning brings flash PMIs for the eurozone, the UK and Japan alongside the US number.
It also connects directly to the memory complex in point two. If you want one market that separates a US-specific slowdown from a global one, this is it.
How to read the print
A hot composite above 56 confirms the growth story, supports SPY and EWY, and pressures gold. An in-line print between 54 and 56 changes little, and semis keep trading their own cycle. A soft print below 54 would be the first crack in a four-year high, with crude reacting fastest and gold benefiting most.
Two sub-indices matter more than the headline. Employment, which jumped to its highest since January 2025 in August. And prices paid, where input inflation has run well above historical levels on tariffs and the Middle East conflict.
Both feed the Fed, and PCE lands next week.
Trade it
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Three steps. Register on the campaign page during the campaign period, which is the step people miss. Trade any contract under the TradFi category. Then hit a volume threshold to earn your bonus.
The tiers are straightforward. $5,000 of cumulative TradFi volume earns $5, $20,000 earns $15, and $50,000 earns $30.
Every market in this article counts. ApeX lists 39 tradeable stock, index and commodity perps, including SPY, SOXL, XAU, CL and EWY, alongside QQQ, AAPL, NVDA, TSLA, MU and the full memory complex. Up to 50x leverage, no KYC, no custody handover, and the contracts trade around the clock rather than stopping at the closing bell.
We appreciate your continued support.
Published by ApeX. For informational and educational purposes only. Not investment advice, and not a forecast of any economic release or price outcome. Trading involves risk, including total loss.
