For the third consecutive week, American equity markets held their footing even as they retreated from record heights, a paradox that captures the peculiar mood of this moment in economic life. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq preserved their winning streaks while the Dow slipped, oil climbed, and Treasury yields rose — each signal pointing toward a world where strength and fragility coexist in uneasy proximity. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and softening domestic data have not broken investor resolve, but they have introduced the kind of doubt that makes every gain feel provisional. Markets,