Closing Stock Market SummaryThe S&P 500 increased 0.9% on Wednesday, bouncing back from back-to-back declines amid renewed buying interest. The Nasdaq Composite (+1.2%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.9%) posted similar gains. The small-cap Russell 2000 outperformed the large-cap indices with a 2.4% gain.
The advance was relatively broad-based with nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closing higher and advancing issues outpacing declining issues by more than a 3:1 margin at the NYSE and Nasdaq. Seven sectors rose more than 1.0%, including materials (+1.9%) and energy (+1.5%) atop the standings.
The communication services (-0.3%) and utilities (-0.9%) sectors were the only sectors that closed lower, largely due to losses in Netflix (NFLX 508.90, -40.67, -7.4%), Verizon (VZ 58.14, -0.24, -0.4%), and NextEra (NEE 77.97, -2.56, -3.2%) following their earnings reports. NFLX fell 7.4% after missing subscriber estimates and issuing disappointing Q2 guidance.
CSX (CSX 102.69, +4.24, +4.3%) was the earnings standout, driving the advance in the Dow Jones Transportation Average (+1.0%).
Earnings news was a big talking point today given the lack of new macro developments, but it'd be self-serving to attribute the generally positive reports to the broader advance. That's based off an observation that the market declined for two straight days this week when most reports exceeded expectations.
Instead, the price action in the market was consistent with consolidation activity: two down days followed by an up day. In other words, no progress. Granted, there was a noticeable uptick in the market within the last hour of the session, possibly due to investors not wanting to get left behind if the consolidation phase is over.
U.S. Treasuries finished little changed in a tight-ranged session that included a decent $24 billion 20-yr bond auction. The 2-yr yield decreased one basis point to 0.14%, and the 10-yr yield was unchanged at 1.56%. The U.S. Dollar Index decreased 0.1% to 91.13. WTI crude futures declined 2.0%, or $1.26, to $61.35/bbl.
Wednesday's economic data was sparse. The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index increased 8.6% following a 3.7% decline in the prior week. Looking ahead, investors will receive the weekly Initial and Continuing Claims report, Existing Home Sales for March, and the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index for March on Thursday.
- Russell 2000 +13.4% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average +11.5% YTD
- S&P 500 +11.1% YTD
- Nasdaq Composite +8.2% YTD