Closing Stock Market Summary
The stock market opened on a lower note as investors reacted to news that Israel declared war on Hamas after a surprise attack launched by Hamas over the weekend. Stocks rallied in the afternoon trade, however, to finish the session near their highs of the day, albeit on light volume that reflected the uncertainty associated with the Israel-Hamas war.
Some flight to safety action seen in Treasury futures, which traded today while the Treasury market was closed for Columbus Day, was cited as a catalyst for the afternoon rally. Other support factors included the dollar giving back its early gains and the stock market's overall resilience to selling efforts.
That resilience likely triggered some short-covering activity and invited additional buying on the belief that stocks are due for a bounce from an oversold condition.
Oil prices traded higher in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict, which some fear could turn into a wider regional conflict. Today's move in oil prices, however, did not have a
The move in oil helped drive a 3.5% gain in the S&P 500 energy sector. The industrials sector (+1.6%) was the next best performer, benefitting from outsized gains in its defense components like Northrop Grumman (NOC 471.61, +48.37, +11.4%), L3Harris (LHX 180.21, +16.32, +10.0%), and Lockheed Martin (LMT 436.53, +35.80, +8.9%).
There was no U.S. economic data of note today. Tuesday's economic data is limited to the September NFIB Small Business Optimism at 6:00 a.m. ET and the August Wholesale Inventories report at 10:00 a.m. ET.
- Nasdaq Composite: +28.8% YTD
- S&P 500: +12.9% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +1.8% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +1.4% YTD
- Russell 2000: -0.3% YTD