Closing Stock Market Summary
The major indices ended the day in negative territory, but closed well off their lows of the day, paced by the ebb and flow of the mega cap stocks. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) had been down 1.0% at its low before closing with a 0.2% loss. Other stocks, however, also improved in the afternoon trade.
The market-cap weighed 500 and the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) both fell just 0.2%. Market breadth was negative, but modestly so. Decliners had a less than 3-to-2 lead over advancers at both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.
An intraday pullback in crude oil, which topped $92.00/bbl earlier in the session, aided the afternoon recovery effort. WTI crude oil futures settled 0.04% lower at $90.49/bbl.
The overall negative bias was partially driven by hesitation in front of Wednesday's FOMC announcement, which will also feature an updated Summary of Economic Projections and dot plot.
Rising market rates acted as another headwind. The 2-yr note yield rose eight basis points to 5.12% and the 10-yr note yield rose five basis points to 4.37% despite a $13 billion 20-yr bond reopening that was met with solid demand.
Only two of the S&P 500 sectors closed in the green -- health care (+0.1%) and communication services (+0.01%) -- while the energy sector (-0.8%) saw the largest decline.
Instacart (CART 33.70, +3.70, +12.3%) was an individual stock standout. The company priced its IPO at $30/share last night, opened for trading at $42, but gave back a big chunk of that opening gain.
- Nasdaq Composite: +30.7% YTD
- S&P 500: +15.7% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +5.3% YTD
- Russell 2000: +3.7% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +4.1% YTD
Today's economic data was limited to housing starts, which hit their lowest level in August (1.283 million) since June 2020, and building permits -- a leading indicator -- which were up 6.9% month-over-month to a stronger-than-expected 1.543 million with permits for single units up 2.0%.
Wednesday's economic calendar features:
- 7:00 ET: Weekly MBA Mortgage Index (prior -0.8%)
- 10:30 ET: Weekly crude oil inventories (prior +3.96 mln)