Closing Stock Market SummaryToday's price action occurred in a relatively tight trading range on below average volume. The main indices closed with modest declines after climbing off their worst levels in the afternoon trade. The Nasdaq trailed its peers again today, weighed down by lagging mega cap stocks.
In the early going, money flows looked somewhat similar to yesterday's trade with bank stocks leading the market higher. Sentiment seemed to shift, though, around the time that FDIC Chairman Michael Barr told the Senate Banking Committee that he anticipates having to increase capital and liquidity standards for firms over $100 billion, adding that more regulation is needed.
Still, there was some underlying strength in the market as evidenced by the 0.2% gain in the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) versus the 0.2% decline in the market-cap weighted S&P 500.
Roughly half of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed in the green, but energy (+1.5%) was the only sector to gain more than 1.0%. On the flip side, the communication services sector (-1.0%) was the worst performer by a decent margin, feeling the weight of its mega cap components. The health care (-0.6%) and information technology (-0.5%) sectors were also notable laggards today.
Market breadth also reflected mixed action and a lack of conviction from both sellers and buyers. Advancers led decliners by a roughly 4-to-3 margin at the NYSE while decliners led advancers by the same margin at the Nasdaq.
Treasuries settled the session with losses. The 2-yr note yield rose six basis points to 4.06% and the 10-yr note yield rose four basis points to 3.56%.
- Nasdaq Composite: +11.9% YTD
- S&P 500: +3.4% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +0.1% YTD
- Russell 2000: -0.5% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: -2.3% YTD
Looking ahead to Wednesday, market participants will receive the following economic data:
- 7:00 ET: Weekly MBA Mortgage Index (prior 3.0%)
- 10:00 ET: February Pending Home Sales (consensus -2.3%; prior 8.1%)
- 10:30 ET: Weekly crude oil inventories (prior +1.12 mln)
Reviewing today's economic data:
- The advanced report for international trade in goods showed a $91.6 billion deficit in February versus the prior revised $91.1 billion deficit in January (-$91.5billion). The advanced report for retail inventories reflected a 0.8% build in February following a 0.1% increase in January. The advanced report for wholesale inventories showed a 0.2% build in February after a revised 0.5% decline in January (from -0.4%).
- The FHFA Housing Price Index rose 0.2% in January following a 0.1% decline in December. The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose 2.5% in January ( consensus 2.5%) following a 4.6% increase in December.
- The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for March hit 104.2 (consensus 101.5) versus an upwardly revised 103.4 (from 102.9) for February. In the same period a year ago, the index stood at 107.6.
- The key takeaway from the report is that consumer confidence held up well even though the survey period covered the week after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. That said, the Expectations Index remained below 80.0 for the 12th month out of the last 13, which serves as a concerning signal about future growth.