Closing Stock Market SummaryThe stock market traded in mixed fashion to begin today's session after yesterday's rally fizzled out late in the afternoon trade. The major indices spent the first half of the day floating around their flat lines due to a lack of conviction from either buyers or sellers.
Fed Chair Powell gave a speech titled "Central Bank Independence" at 9:00 a.m. ET, but his comments had limited impact on the market. Instead, the fickle start to the trading day was likely driven by hesitation ahead of the December Consumer Price Index on Thursday followed by bank earnings reports on Friday, which marks the official start to the Q4 earnings reporting season.
Shortly after the open, decliners outpaced advancers by a slim margin at the NYSE while advancers led decliners at the Nasdaq.
Buyers exhibited more commitment, though, starting around midday. By the closing bell, advancing issues led declining issues by a roughly 5-to-2 margin at both the NYSE and the Nasdaq. The main indices closed near their best levels of the day, which left the S&P 500 comfortably above a key technical point (its 50-day moving average at 3,907).
The late push higher was fueled by broad buying interest. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) closed at its best level of the day, up 0.8%, versus a 0.7% gain in the S&P 500. Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed in the green led by the communication services (+1.3%) and consumer discretionary (+1.3%) sectors. Meanwhile, the consumer staples sector (-0.2%) was alone in negative territory to close out the session.
Notably, small cap stocks performed better than their larger peers, leading the Russell 2000 to a gain of 1.5%.
Treasury yields rose noticeably today. The 2-yr note yield rose six basis points to 4.26% and the 10-yr note yield rose ten basis points to 3.62%.
Reviewing today's economic data:
- December NFIB Small Business Optimism 89.8; Prior 91.9
- November Wholesale Inventories 1.0%; Prior was revised to 0.6% from 0.5%
- S&P Midcap 400: ++3.5% YTD
- Russell 2000: +3.5% YTD
- Nasdaq Composite: +2.6% YTD
- S&P 500: +2.1%YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +1.7% YTD
Looking ahead to Wednesday, market participants will receive the following economic data:
- 7:00 a.m. ET: Weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index (prior -13.2%)
- 10:30 a.m. ET: Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories (prior +1.69 million)