Closing Market Summary: Stocks End Mixed Week on Upbeat Note
The S&P 500 added 0.3% to end the week with a slim advance of 0.1%. Although the broader market ended little changed, small caps were under pressure throughout the session as the Russell 2000 lost 0.4%. Notably, relative weakness among small caps was a recurring theme throughout the week, causing the Russell to lose 2.0% since Monday.
Outside of the continued underperformance of small caps, the session did not generate too much excitement. The S&P climbed at the open, but slid to lows during the first two hours as the broader market caught down to the Russell's weakness. The S&P was able to battle its way back to the opening high, but could not muster additional gains as energy (-0.3%) and materials (-0.2%) weighed. The energy sector trailed the broader market throughout the day as Dow component Chevron (CVX 118.01, -1.95) weighed after missing bottom-line estimates by $0.14. Crude oil also pressured the sector, falling 1.8% to $94.61 per barrel. Elsewhere, materials underperformed as miners displayed broad weakness. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 24.08, -1.02) tumbled 4.1% while gold futures slid 0.8% to $1313.10 per troy ounce. On the upside, the relative strength of industrials (+0.8%) and health care (+0.7%) helped the S&P post a modest advance. Transports paced the gains among industrials as the Dow Jones Transportation Average rallied 1.0%. Meanwhile, the health care sector outperformed with some help from biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 206.06, +0.73) added 0.4%. Treasuries sold off throughout the session, sending the 10-yr yield higher by six basis points to 2.62%. Trading volume was a bit above average as just under 810 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Although equities endured a relatively quiet session, the same could not be said for the foreign exchange market. The greenback rallied throughout the day, gaining significant strength against the euro and the pound. The Index ended near its high with an advance of 0.7% at 80.72.
The euro was under pressure since yesterday amid rumblings of an ECB rate cut by year-end and continued chatter of negative interest rates. Heavy selling dropped the pair roughly 300 pips off its October highs to 1.3490 against the dollar. Today's economic data was limited to the October ISM Manufacturing Index, which increased to 56.4 in from 56.2 (Briefing.com consensus 55.0). The common adage throughout the government shutdown was that the manufacturing sector would suffer from lost orders and demand. If the ISM index is an accurate gauge of manufacturing activity in October, then the expected weakness never occurred. New orders actually strengthened in October. The related index increased to 60.6 in October from 60.5. Meanwhile, order backlogs ended a contraction period and increased to 51.5 from 49.5. Monday's economic data will be limited to August and September factory orders, which will be released through a single report at 10:00 ET.
o Nasdaq +29.9% YTD o Russell 2000 +29.0% YTD o S&P 500 +23.5% YTD o DJIA +19.2% YTD