CORRELATION COLLAPSE - This summer has offered an old-fashioned stock picker a chance to shine - Correlation among the 10 large-cap sectors in the S&P 500 – their tendency to move in unison regardless of their underlying fundamentals – fell to 69.9% last month, the lowest level in two years, according to Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group. In the prior month, this figure clocked in at 89% - That means fundamentals, as opposed to macro developments, are now playing a bigger role in how individual stocks and sectors trade, a stark contrast to what predominately transpired dating back to the financial crisis.