S&P 500 record 7,818.95 on a 5.3% long yield: big caps climb while small caps and semis lag

The S&P 500 closed at a record 7,818.95 on Tuesday, Oct 6, and on its face it was a textbook risk-on session: ten of the eleven sectors rose, NYSE advancers beat decliners by about 1.93 to 1, and the VIX sagged to 15.01 as long-dated Treasuries rallied modestly. Underneath that clean headline sits a market doing two things at once. Utilities led the tape on an AI-power trade that finally includes electricity itself, while the Russell 2000 fell and the semiconductor complex split down the middle. The rally is broad among large caps, but it remains hostage to a 5%+ long-yield regime near 24-year highs, and the next two scheduled prints, the Sept CPI and a wall of mega-cap bank earnings, will t…