Closing Stock Market SummaryToday's trade had a decidedly positive tone following the two-day Congressional hearing on the SIVB bank failure. For most of the session, the main indices chopped around a fairly narrow range, albeit sporting nice gains. Ultimately, though, a late afternoon push higher had the main indices close near their highs of the day, leaving the S&P 500 above its 50-day moving average (4,014).
The tech-heavy Nasdaq paced its peers thanks to strong leadership from mega caps and chipmakers. Investors reacted favorably to Micron's (MU 63.54, +4.26, +7.2%) quarterly results and many semiconductor stocks traded up in sympathy. The PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 3.3% today.
Strength from semiconductor components helped drive a 2.1% gain in the S&P 500 information technology sector, which closed near the top of the leaderboard along with real estate (+2.3%) and consumer discretionary (+1.9%).
All 11 sectors closed with gains, but the defensive-oriented consumer staples (+0.5%) and health care (+0.2%) sectors lagged the broader market with the slimmest gains of the day.
Market breadth reflects a strong positive bias behind today's gains. Advancers led decliners by a nearly 4-to-1 margin at the NYSE and a 2-to-1 margin at the Nasdaq.
Notably, the positive price action today followed relatively strong gains in many overseas indices. Germany's DAX rose 1.2%, the U.K.'s FTSE rose 1.1%, and France's CAC 40 rose 1.4%. Market participants were reacting to the news that UBS AG (UBS 20.10, +0.83, +4.3%) named Sergio P. Ermotti as CEO, effective April 5.
Treasuries settled little changed from yesterday's closing levels. The 2-yr note yield rose one basis point to 4.07% and the 10-yr note yield was unchanged at 3.57%.
- Nasdaq Composite: +14.0% YTD
- S&P 500: +4.9% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +1.3% YTD
- Russell 2000: +0.6% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: -1.3% YTD
Reviewing today's economic data:
- The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index rose 2.9% with purchase application jumping 2.0% (-35% yr/yr) while refinancing applications rose 5.0% (-61% yr/yr).
- Pending home sales rose 0.8% in February (consensus -2.3%) following a 8.1% increase in January.
- The weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories showed a draw of 7.49 million barrels following last week's draw of 1.06 million barrels.
Looking ahead to Thursday, market participants will receive the following economic data:
- 8:30 ET: Weekly Initial Claims (consensus 196,000; prior 191,000), Continuing Claims (prior 1.694 mln), Q4 GDP -- third estimate (consensus 2.7%; prior 2.7%), and GDP Deflator -- third estimate (consensus 3.9%; prior 3.9%)
- 10:30 ET: Weekly natural gas inventories (prior -72 bcf)
