Closing Stock Market Summary
The stock market started the week on a soft note after last week's move higher. A sharp move lower in the late afternoon with no specific catalyst left the S&P 500 near its worst level of the session, down 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite logged a 0.3% decline and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% while the Russell 2000 eked out a 0.1% gain.
The negative bias was driven by some normal consolidation activity, but downside moves were relatively modest. Weakness in some mega cap and semiconductor stocks also contributed to the negative bias today.
Alphabet (GOOG 151.15, -0.62, -0.4%), Meta Platforms (META 503.02, -6.56, -1.3%), and Apple (AAPL 170.85, -1.43, -0.8%) were among the influential laggards after news that the EU commission opened non-compliance investigations against them.
Weakness in the semiconductor space was related to news that China will not allow chips from AMD (AMD 178.63, -1.02, -0.6%) and Intel (INTC 41.83, -0.74, -1.7%) to be used in government computers.
In other corporate news, Dow component Boeing (BA 191.41, +2.56, +1.4%) announced that CEO Dave Calhoun plans to step down as CEO at the end of 2024.
Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors registered losses ranging from 0.2% (health care) to 0.7% (industrials). The energy sector logged the biggest gain by a wide margin amid rising oil prices ($81.95/bbl, +1.33, +1.7%).
Rising Treasury yields acted as another headwind for stocks today. The 10-yr note yield rose four basis points to 4.25% and the 2-yr note yield rose three basis points to 4.63%. On a related note, today's $66 billion 2-yr note auction was met with soft demand.
- S&P 500:+9.4% YTD
- Nasdaq Composite: +9.2% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +7.5% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +4.3% YTD
- Russell 2000: +2.3% YTD
Reviewing today's economic data:
- February New Home Sales 662K (consensus 680K); Prior was revised to 664K from 661K
- The key takeaway from the report is that the overall level of sales was largely unchanged from January while the median selling price decreased for the sixth consecutive month, which is a welcome development for potential buyers.
Looking ahead, Tuesday's economic calendar features:
- 8:30 ET: February Durable Orders (consensus 1.3%; prior -6.1%), Durable Orders ex-transportation (consensus 0.4%; prior -0.3%)
- 9:00 ET: January FHFA Housing Price Index (prior 0.1%) and January S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index (consensus 6.7%; prior 6.1%)
- 10:00 ET: March Consumer Credit (consensus 106.7; prior 106.7)