Closing Stock Market Summary
The S&P 500 closed little changed from yesterday, the Nasdaq Composite registered a 0.2% decline, and the Russell 2000 underperformed with a 0.5% loss. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average logged a 0.4% gain and closed 172 points higher than yesterday.
The major indices traded in relatively narrow ranges through most of the session after climbing off opening lows. The overall vibe in today's trade was slightly negative despite the index level improvement and gain in the DJIA. Decliners led advancers by a 4-to-3 margin at the NYSE and by an 11-to-10 margin at the Nasdaq.
The downside bias was related to normal consolidation efforts after recent gains. Also, the 5,200 level was an overhang for the S&P 500 after the index stalled out at that point yesterday.
Uber (UBER 66.40, -4.03, -5.7%) was among the worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 after reporting below-consensus earnings. The S&P 500 industrial sector still eked out a fractional gain despite the movement in shares of Uber.
The information technology (+0.2%), financials (+0.4%), and utilities (+1.1%) sectors also closed with gains. The real estate (-0.9%) and materials (-0.4%) sectors registered the largest declines.
Some other stocks that reported earnings received positive responses from investors. Lyft (LYFT 17.78, +1.18, +7.1%), Arista Networks (ANET 291.67, +17.68, +6.5%), Reddit (RDDT 51.40, +2.00, +4.1%), and Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD 62.99, +2.42, +4.0%) were among the winning standouts in that respect.
The price action in Treasuries contributed to the muted action in stocks. The 10-yr note yield settled three basis points higher at 4.49% and the 2-yr note yield settled one basis point higher at 4.84%. This followed today's $42 billion 10-yr note sale, which met weaker demand than yesterday's 3-yr note auction.
- S&P 500:+8.8% YTD
- Nasdaq Composite: +8.6% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +6.7% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +3.6% YTD
- Russell 2000: +1.4% YTD
Reviewing today's economic data:
- The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index rose 2.6% versus last week's 2.3% decline
- Wholesale Inventories fell 0.4% in March (consensus -0.4%) following a revised 0.2% increase in February (from 0.5%).
- The weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories showed a draw of 1.36 million barrels following last week's build of 7.27 million barrels
Looking ahead, Thursday's economic calendar features:
- 8:30 ET: Weekly Initial Claims (consensus 213,000; prior 208,000) and Continuing Claims (prior 1.774 mln)
- 10:30 ET: Weekly natural gas inventories (prior +59 bcf)