Closing Stock Market Summary
The stock market had a solid showing following last week's broad retreat. The major indices exhibited some up and down action, but maintained gains through the entire session, ultimately selling near session highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.2%) bounced nearly 500 points, the Nasdaq Composite (+1.2%) logged a roughly 200 point gain, and the S&P 500 (+1.2%) jumped more than 60 points. Many stocks participated in upside moves, driven by buy-the-dip interest, but mega caps and semiconductor shares had an outsized impact on index performance.
The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) settled 1.2% higher and the PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) jumped 2.2%.
Alphabet (GOOG 149.54, -2.39, -1.6%) went against the upside grain, dropping after the start of Google's antitrust trial. Apple (AAPL 220.91, +0.09, +0.04%), which unveiled new iPhones and other products at today's "It's Glowtime" event, had been down as much as 1.8% earlier before settling the session slightly higher.
All 11 S&P 500 sectors logged a gain and seven of them were higher by 1.0% or more. The communication services sector registered the slimmest gain due to the price action in Alphabet while the consumer discretionary (+1.6%) and information technology (+1.4%) sectors closed near the top of the leaderboard.
Treasuries settled mixed after last week's big gains, which acted as fuel for selling in the stock market. The 10-yr note yield settled one basis point lower at 3.70% and the 2-yr note yield settled two basis points higher at 3.67%.
- S&P 500: +14.7% YTD
- Nasdaq Composite: +12.5% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +8.3% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +6.2% YTD
- Russell 2000: +3.5% YTD
Reviewing today's economic data:
- July Wholesale Inventories 0.2% (consensus 0.3%); Prior 0.2%
- Consumer credit increased by $25.5 billion in July (consensus $11.5 billion) after increasing a downwardly revised $5.2 billion (from $8.9 billion) in June.
- The key takeaway from the report is that consumer credit was flowing in July for both revolving and nonrevolving credit, aided by falling interest rates.
Looking ahead, Tuesday's economic lineup features the August NFIB Small Business Optimism Survey at 6:00 ET.