>>> US Close Dow -0.14% S&P +0.57% Nasdaq +1.25% Russell +1.53%

Closing Stock Market Summary
The S&P 500 closed above 5,000 for the first time in a fairly broad advance. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.3% and the Russell 2000 logged a 1.5% gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, though, settled slightly lower than yesterday.

There still has not been any concerted selling interest despite reports that the market is overbought in the short-term, which has acted as its own upside catalyst. The market also drew support from gains in the semiconductor and mega cap spaces. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) registered a 1.2% gain and the PHLX Semiconductor Index jumped 2.0%.

Many stocks participated in upside moves by the close, though. The A-D line favored advancers by a roughly 2-to-1 margin at both the NYSE and the Nasdaq. Also, the equal-weighted S&P 500 eked out a 0.1% gain.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed higher, led by the information technology (+1.5%), consumer discretionary (+1.0%), and communication services (+0.7%) sectors, which benefitted from gains in their largest components.

Meanwhile, the energy sector (-1.6%) saw the largest decline by a decent margin, likely due to some geopolitical worries after The Wall Street Journal reported that Venezuela deployed its military to Guyana's border a day after indicating that a "forceful" response would be warranted if Exxon Mobil (XOM 101.77, -2.20, -2.1%) proceeds with plans to drill in a disputed region offshore Guyana. It is worth noting, too, that natural gas prices ($1.85, -0.07, -3.7%) had another tough outing, leaving prices down 11% for the week.

The consumer staples sector was another laggard, dropping 0.9%. This was due in part to shares of PepsiCo (PEP 167.67, -6.18, -3.6%) falling 3.6% after reporting earnings.

There was no U.S. economic data of note today, but the annual CPI revisions were released at 8:30 ET, garnering added attention due to potential implications for the Fed's rate cut path. The revisions were relatively friendly since they did not alter the market's view on inflation much. Reactions from both the bond and equity markets were muted.

The 2-yr note yield, which is most sensitive to changes in the fed funds rate, was at 4.48% just before 8:30 ET and settled at 4.50%. The 10-yr note yield, at 4.17% before the revisions, settled at 4.19%, which is two basis points higher than yesterday's settlement.

Also, rate cut expectations were little changed by the revisions. The probability of a 25 basis points rate cut to 5.00-5.25% at the May FOMC meeting is 63.1% now, up from 59.9% yesterday, but down from 73.2% one week ago, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Looking ahead, Monday's economic calendar is limited to the January Treasury Budget (prior -$129.0 bln) at 2:00 ET.
  • Nasdaq Composite: +6.5% YTD
  • S&P 500: +5.4% YTD
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: +2.6% YTD
  • S&P Midcap 400: +1.0% YTD
  • Russell 2000: -0.8% YTD