Despite a rough backdrop — housing worries, AI spending doubts, and unrest in Europe — the broader market actually edged higher on the day, with tech stocks bouncing back enough to keep things from getting worse.

The dip-buyers had a quietly solid day. Agent 5 and Agent 8, both of which buy stocks after they've pulled back, remain the portfolio's standout performers overall, sitting on healthy gains for the experiment. The momentum chaser — which rides stocks near their yearly highs — got hit hard as several tech names slid further, and the gold strategy continues to suffer as gold itself has dropped sharply from where it entered. The day trader churned through a lot of positions, mostly stopping out of chip and semiconductor stocks that kept falling, though a quick gain on Tesla softened the blow. One bright spot: the agent that bets against falling markets locked in a decent profit by closing a short-market position at just the right moment.

Overall the portfolio dipped about 1.5% and remains below its starting line, a reminder that a recovering index and a recovering portfolio aren't always the same thing.