Closing Stock Market Summary
The market experienced some consolidation today following the best week of the year for the stocks. The major indices were largely supported by mega cap gains while many other stocks declined due to profit-taking activity.
The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) rose 0.8% while the market-cap weighted S&P 500 closed with a 0.2% gain. Meanwhile, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) fell 0.5% and market breadth was negative at both the NYSE and the Nasdaq. Decliners led advancers by a 5-to-2 margin at the NYSE and a nearly 2-to-1 margin at the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 real estate sector (-1.4%), which jumped 8.6% last week, saw the steepest decline today followed by energy (-1.2%). The next worst performing sector was materials, which closed with a modest 0.5% loss.
The heavily-weighted information technology sector (+0.8%) led the pack followed by health care (+0.7%) and consumer discretionary (+0.2%).
Rising market rates were another factor keeping stocks in check. Like equities, Treasuries experienced some consolidation after last week's big gains. The 2-yr note yield rose eight basis points to 4.94% and the 10-yr note yield rose ten basis points to 4.66%.
The Treasury market will see a rush of new supply this week, beginning with the $48 billion 3-yr note auction on Tuesday, followed by the $40 billion 10-yr note auction on Wednesday and the $24 billion 30-yr bond auction on Thursday.
Separately, some individual stocks made outsized moves on specific news catalysts. Paramount Global (PARA 12.69, -1.07, -7.8%), which was downgraded to Underperform from Buy at BofA Securities, and Albemarle (ALB 119.46, -8.52, -6.7%), which was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, were among the losing standouts in that respect.
There was no U.S. economic data of note today.
- Nasdaq Composite: +29.2% YTD
- S&P 500: +13.7% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +2.9% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +1.0% YTD
- Russell 2000: -1.3% YTD
Looking ahead, Tuesday's economic calendar features:
- 8:30 ET: September Trade Balance ( consensus -$60.1 bln; prior -$58.3 bln)
- 15:00 ET: September Consumer Credit ( consensus $9.0 bln; prior -$15.6 bln)