Closing Stock Market Summary
It was a downbeat day for the stock market. The major indices all lost more than 1.0% in a tech stock led retreat. The index level declines were less robust in the first half of the session, but selling accelerated in the afternoon trade.
The negative price action was driven by normal consolidation activity after a big run that had the major indices, and many individual stocks, trading near all-time highs. The stocks that led that upside charge experienced increased selling today compared to the rest of the market.
The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) registered a 1.7% decline today, which leaves its yearly gain at 8.3%. The PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) fell 2.1% today, but is still up 16.9% for the year. The S&P 500 information technology sector declined 2.2% today, leaving it up 10.1% in 2024.
On an individual basis, Microsoft (MSFT 402.65, -12.27, -3.0%), Meta Platforms (META 490.22, -7.97, -1.6%), and Amazon.com (AMZN 174.12, -3.46, -2.0%) all registered sizable declines today after big gains to start 2024. Notably, shares of NVIDIA (NVDA 859.64, +7.31, +0.9%) keep climbing, bringing its yearly gain to a whopping 73.6%.
Meanwhile, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) fell 0.5% today. The RSP is up 3.6% for year compared to a 6.5% gain in the market-cap weighted S&P 500.
Aside from the information technology sector, the consumer discretionary (-1.3%) and real estate (-1.2%) sectors saw the largest declines. On the flip side, the consumer staples sector outperformed thanks in part to a big earnings-related gain in Target (TGT 168.58, +18.09, +12.0%). TGT was the best performing stock in the S&P 500 today. The energy (+0.7%) and financials (+0.1%) sectors were the only other sectors to close with gains.
Treasuries settled with gains. The 2-yr note yield fell six basis points to 4.55% and the 10-yr note yield declined eight basis points to 4.14%.
- S&P 500: +6.5% YTD
- Nasdaq Composite: +6.2% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +5.0% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +2.4% YTD
- Russell 2000: +1.3% YTD
Reviewing today's economic data:
- February S&P Global US Services PMI - Final 52.3; Prior 52.5
- January Factory Orders -3.6% (consensus -2.5%); Prior was revised to -0.3% from 0.2%
- The key takeaway from the report is that business spending held steady in January, which takes some of the sting off the otherwise-weak report.
- February ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI 52.6% (consensus 52.7%); Prior 53.4%
- The key takeaway from the report is that business activity and order growth improved in February, but the Employment Index fell below 50.0%, indicating a contraction for the second time in the past three months.
Looking ahead, market participants will receive the following economic data on Wednesday:
- 7:00 ET: Weekly MBA Mortgage Index (prior -5.6%)
- 8:15 ET: February ADP Employment Change (consensus 150,000; prior 107,000)
- 10:00 ET: January job openings (prior 9.026 mln) and January Wholesale Inventories (consensus -0.1%; prior 0.4%)
- 10:30 ET: Weekly crude oil inventories (prior +4.20 mln)
- 14:00 ET: March Fed Beige Book