Closing Stock Market Summary
Today's trade had a negative bias. The A-D line favored decliners by a 7-to-3 margin at the NYSE and by a nearly 2-to-1 margin at the Nasdaq. The major indices were able to close off their highs of the day, though, thanks to support from mega cap stocks that recovered from early weakness.
NVIDIA (NVDA 531.40, +8.87, +1.7%) was a standout winner in that respect after being down as much as 1.1% at its low this morning. Alphabet (GOOG 142.56, +2.03, +1.4%), Amazon.com (AMZN 151.37, +2.27, +1.5%), and Microsoft (MSFT 375.79, +1.10, +0.3%) had all been trading down earlier, too.
Losses in Meta Platforms (META 357.43, -1.23, -0.3%), which had been trading up at its best level of the day, Apple (AAPL 185.14, -0.42, -0.2%), and Tesla (TSLA 234.96, -5.49, -2.3%) countered some of the strength from the aforementioned names. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) logged a 0.3% gain.
The overall negative vibe was partially a reaction to a Q4 revenue warning from Microchip Technology (MCHP 85.34, -0.30, -0.4%) that was tied to a weakening economic environment. In a related action, Samsung Electronics said it expects its Q4 operating profit to be down 35% year-over-year and below analysts' expectations.
Four of the S&P 500 sectors logged a gain while seven of them saw a decline. The information technology sector (+0.3%) was the top performer while the energy (-1.6%) and materials (-1.1%) sectors registered the largest declines.
The 2-yr note yield settled three basis points higher at 4.38% and the 10-yr note yield rose two basis points to 4.02%. On a related note, today's $52 billion 3-yr note auction met strong demand.
- S&P 500: -0.3%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.4%
- S&P Midcap 400: -1.2%
- Nasdaq Composite: -1.1%
- Russell 2000: -1.9%
Reviewing today's economic data:
- November Trade Balance -$63.2 bln (consensus -$64.7 bln); Prior was revised to _$64.5 bln from -$64.3 bln
- The key takeaway from the report is that exports were $4.8 billion less than October exports while imports were $6.1 billion less than October imports. The drop in both exports and imports fits with a weakening global economic environment.
- December NFIB Small Business Optimism 91.9; Prior 90.6
Looking ahead, Wednesday's economic calendar features:
- 7:00 ET: Weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index (prior -9.4%)
- 10:00 ET: November Wholesale Inventories (consensus -0.2%; prior -0.4%)
- 10:30 ET: Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories (prior -5.5 million barrels)