Closing Stock Market Summary
After some up and down price action in the early going, the major indices stuck to relatively narrow trading ranges throughout most of the session.
Mega caps and semiconductor stocks were weighing heavily on index performance. NVIDIA (NVDA 455.10, -12.55, 2.7%) was one of the most influential stocks in that respect. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) declined 1.1% today and the PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 1.2%.
The market-cap weighted S&P 500 closed with a 0.5% loss while the equal-weighted S&P 500 eked out a 0.1% gain.
Money was rotating into other stocks, which provided some offsetting support to the broader market. Airlines were winning standouts in that respect after news that Alaska Air (ALK 34.07, -5.66, -14.3%) plans to acquire Hawaiian Holdings (HA 14.22, +9.36, +192.6%) for $18.00 per share. The US Global Jets ETF (JETS) climbed 4.2%.
Banks, retailers, and homebuilders were also relatively strong today. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) jumped 1.2%; the SPDR S&P Retailer ETF (XRT) rose 1.1%; and the SPDR S&P Homebuilder ETF (XHB) climbed 0.7%.
Crypto-related stocks were another pocket of strength, benefitting from recent rise in cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin is at $40,632 after briefly rising past $41,000 and Ethereum is at $2,228.75. Coinbase Global (COIN 141.09, +7.33, +5.5%) jumped more than 5.0%.
Rising Treasury yields acted as a limiting factor for the broader market in addition to losses in mega cap and semiconductor shares. The 2-yr note yield rose nine basis points to 4.65% and the 10-yr note yield rose six basis points to 4.29%.
Separately, gold futures settled $47.50 lower (-2.3%) to $2,042.20/oz, ending firmly off overnight all-time highs above $2,100/oz, on some likely profit taking activity.
- Nasdaq Composite: +35.5%
- S&P 500: +19.0%
- Dow Jones industrial Average: +9.2%
- S&P Midcap 400: +8.9%
- Russell 2000: +6.9%
Reviewing today's economic data:
- October Factory Orders -3.6% (consensus -2.6%); Prior was revised to 2.3% from 2.8%
- The key takeaway from the report is that the October decrease was the largest month-over-month contraction since April 2020, when factory orders plunged 13.5% as coronavirus-related lockdowns spread. The October report also featured a downward revision to September figures, including orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, indicating that business spending in September was weaker than originally estimated.
Looking ahead, Tuesday's economic data is limited to the final November S&P Global US Services PMI at 9:45 ET and the November ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI at 10:00 ET.