Closing Stock Market Summary
It was a solid day for the stock market. The Russell 2000 outperformed other indices throughout the session, gaining 1.4% by the close. The S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, and Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, traded either slightly above or slightly below yesterday's closing levels for most of the day. The S&P 500 briefly traded above 5,000, reaching 5,000.40 at its intraday high, before settling just a whisker shy of that level again.
The absence of selling pressure amid growing expectations for a pullback among some participants acted as its own upside catalyst. Advancers led decliners by a roughly 5-to-2 margin at both the NYSE and at the Nasdaq. Still, upside moves were relatively modest for most of the market. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) closed 0.2% higher.
Outsized moves were mostly limited to individual stocks that reported earnings since yesterday's close, which garnered mixed responses. Arm Holdings (ARM 113.89, +36.88, +47.9%) jumped nearly 50% after reporting earnings and Dow component Walt Disney (DIS 110.54, +11.40, +11.5%) also logged a large gain on pleasing quarterly results.
Meanwhile, shares of PayPal (PYPL 56.13, -7.11, -11.2%) faced selling pressure after disappointing below-consensus guidance.
Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors moved less than 0.6% in either direction. The outliers were the energy sector, which jumped 1.1% amid rising oil prices ($76.24/bbl, +2.46, +3.3%), and the utilities sector, which declined 0.8%.
Treasuries settled with losses despite a strong $25 billion 30-yr bond offering, which followed the strong responses to this week's $54 billion 3-yr note auction and $42 billion 10-yr note auction. The 10-yr note yield rose six basis points to 4.17% and the 2-yr note yield rose three basis points to 4.45%.
This price action was partially a reaction to this morning's release of the weekly jobless claims report, which showed a decrease in the number of claims, fitting with the market's emerging view that the Fed may stay restrictive for longer.
- Nasdaq Composite: +5.2% YTD
- S&P 500: +4.8% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +2.8% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +0.2% YTD
- Russell 2000: -2.3% YTD
Reviewing today's economic data:
- Weekly Initial Claims 218K (consensus 218K); Prior was revised to 227K from 224K; Weekly Continuing Claims 1.871 mln; Prior was revised to 1.894 mln from 1.898 mln
- The key takeaway from the report is the continuing low level of initial claims, which is a reflection of an economy not showing the stress of a big drop-off in demand.
- December Wholesale Inventories 0.4% (consensus 0.4%); Prior was revised to -0.4% from -0.2%