Crumbles by commodities and the Colossus of Cupertino have been getting much of the blame for the stock market slumping in seven of the past 10 sessions.

“If AAPL doesn’t find its footing soon, it may risk a deeper drop,” writes Andrew Nyquist, over at See It Market.

And as goes the largest company by market value, so goes the whole U.S. stock market. Or at least a further slide by Apple would act as a mighty powerful brake on the S&P 500 SPX, -1.15% SPY, -1.11% , where it’s about 4% of the benchmark, and on the growthier Nasdaq 100 NDX, +0.39% QQQ, +0.38% , where it’s a 14% chunk.

So, what’s the matter with Apple AAPL, +3.03% ? For the first time since September 2013, the tech giant’s stock has knifed under the closely watched 200-day moving average. Many chart lovers use that as a guide to a stock’s long-term trend.

Also, Apple has entered into what’s often called “correction territory,” by dropping more than 10% from its peak. Go here for more on the iPhone maker’s technicals, from one of MarketWatch’s resident chart nerds, Tomi Kilgore.

Nyquist suggests Apple, which closed at $118.44 on Monday, could tumble into the $109-to-$115 range — an area the tech giant jumped out of in January, after quarterly results crushed forecasts.

“A move lower would likely target the open gap from the late January earnings ‘beat.’ But a pivot higher in the $115-$118 zone (give it a little wiggle room) would neutralize the selling pressure and give bulls a chance to regroup,” Nyquist says. Here’s his chart:

See It Market, StockCharts.com

What about the crumble by commodities? More on that in today’s chart of the day and call of the day.

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The stat

Charlie Bilello, research director at Pension Partners, notes that joining the Dow DJIA, -1.84% has been a bit of a kiss of death for Apple, as the iPhone maker has lost 7.2% since then.

That’s exactly as some market watchers predicted, and hardly an ascension, as some of our Dow Jones colleagues have viewed it. (Don’t get us started on the dinosaur Dow’s usefulness as a stock-market gauge, or you’ll just get vitriol and bile.)

Bilello offered that 7.2% stat and more in this tweet:

Key market gauges

Crude CLU25, is recovering somewhat from Monday’s beatdown, but the Greek stock market GD, -4.28% is falling again in its second session since reopening. European equities more broadly SXXP, -3.24% are moderately lower, while China’s Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.12% ended up 3.7% as Beijing clamped down further on short selling, even as Asia overall ADOW, -0.16% was mostly flat.

Follow the day’s U.S. market action here

The quote

“Who wants Joe Biden to run for president? Friends, family, a close circle of advisers and Democratic donors. Oh, and, seemingly, much of the political press corps.” — Politico writer Dylan Byers on how the mainstream media could be responsible if we end up with a President Joe Biden.

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The economy

The jobs report later this week is still overshadowing the rest of the economic calendar, though you shouldn’t bank on a strong payrolls result. In the meantime, we have a reading on June factory orders.

Earnings

Movie studios, retailers and more are grabbing the earnings spotlight Tuesday.

CVS Health Corp. CVS, -1.17% , Office Depot Inc. ODP, -4.81% and Coach Inc. US:COH have all reported before the opening bell. Walt Disney Co. DIS, -2.50% DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. US:DWA are expected to post results after the close.

Read: Apple sinks under key level; Allstate tumbles

The buzz

Bloomberg

LinkedIn US:LNKD is hosting a post by Bill Gates on clean-energy innovation, just as the White House has unveiled its final version of a “Clean Power Plan.”

“Last month, during a trip to Europe, I mentioned that I plan to invest $1 billion in clean energy technology over the next five years,” Gates writes. He says innovation has eradicated deadly diseases and revolutionized how people live, so we “can create a zero-carbon future too, if we commit to it.”

On the merger front, Shire PLC US:SHPG UK:SHP has offered to pay $30 billion for rival biopharma firm Baxalta Inc. US:BXLT

The chart

We might need all the Biden jokes we can get, given the bleak assessment offered by Brett Steenbarger over at TraderFeed.

He’s looked at the “macro story” told by a popular commodities tracker DBC, -2.45% , and it’s a discouraging tale.

“In a world of expanding global economic growth, we would expect to see greater utilization of raw materials, driving the prices of commodities higher. What we’ve been seeing instead ... is a collapse of commodity prices, particularly in the wake of concerns regarding growth in China,” Steenbarger writes.

“One would like to see the emerging markets of the world as engines of growth, but instead the commodities markets suggest that those regions have become burdened by deflationary pressures, even as debt burdens have mounted,” he adds. His full post offers two other charts that tell their own macro stories.

Also read: Forget gold! Diamonds may be the next big thing in the futures market

TraderFeed

The call

Mark Mobius on Tuesday suggested that oil could be finding a bottom. That’s right — crude’s crash, which stepped up again Monday and has been a huge part of the commodities rout, might be over.

“We are beginning to reach the endgame in the commodity bear market because finally, people are getting the message of cancelling projects which were planned at higher prices,” Mobius told CNBC.

He tut-tutted that oil’s price is “purely sentimental.” It “has no real relationship to long-term supply and demand,” said Mobius, who is known for his investments in commodity-producing emerging markets.

Laura Mandaro/MarketWatch

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