The federal government has been shut down since the start of the month, and

prediction markets are saying it could become the longest shutdown in U.S. history. The Fed’s “beige book” reported that the economy has slowed down over the past two months. Last week, President Donald Trump decided to use Truth Social to fire off new tariff threats against China. And, just last week, investors got spooked by signs that banks’ recent credit losses might not be isolated incidents.

It seems as if investors have been getting hit with one market-moving risk after another — and markets have certainly moved. The Cboe Volatility Index VIX closed at its highest level since April on Thursday, as U.S. stock indexes reversed between gains and losses over several choppy days of trading. (The VIX fell back nearly 18% a day later.)

Those who believe a stock-market correction is imminent may have plenty of reason to do so, except the one thing that may matter the most for chart watchers — failure.

That’s why the S&P 500’s

SPX 6,550 level is so important in the short term. There’s a tendency to look at the benchmark stock index’s chart for a signal suggesting that its uptrend is ending — but around market tops, it’s often what the index couldn’t do that confirms a reversal. And despite credit worries, a prolonged government shutdown and renewed tariff fears — which recently triggered the S&P 500’s biggest one-day selloff in six months — the charts still suggest bulls are in control.

The Pentagon’s reported push to beef up America’s missile arsenal spells more good news for a number of defense contractors, according to Vertical Research Partners.

The Wall Street Journal

reported that Pentagon leaders want missile suppliers to double or even quadruple production amid geopolitical tensions. The Pentagon, the report said, is alarmed at low U.S. weapons stockpiles, as a result of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, in the context of a potential future China conflict. This could be another godsend for missile makers.

Bitcoin resumed its decline on Tuesday as concerns around trade tensions between the U.S. and China returned to rattle traders following a brief reprieve on Monday.

The largest cryptocurrency

BTCUSD was trading down 3% at around $112,399 Tuesday afternoon, after falling to as low as $109,986 earlier in the session, according to Dow Jones Market Data. At that time, bitcoin was about 11% from its record high of $126,272, reached on Oct. 6. The crypto was still up 20.3% this year.

That was Ray Dalio — the billionaire founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates — discussing how much gold it makes sense for investors to have in their portfolios.

Speaking last Tuesday at the Greenwich Economic Forum in Connecticut, Dalio touted gold

GC00 while comparing the current economic landscape with that of the 1970s.