Closing Stock Market Summary
The major indices settled the session slightly higher than yesterday. Volume was light again at the NYSE, which was not surprising ahead of another extended holiday weekend.
A positive response to today's $58 billion 5-yr Treasury note sale, which met excellent demand, saw the major indices jump to session highs. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% at its best level of the session and trading roughly 11 points below its all-time high close.
The major indices ultimately settled below those levels, though. The S&P 500 registered a 0.1% gain; the Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.2%; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average logged a 0.3% gain.
None of the S&P 500 sectors moved more than 0.5% in either direction. The real estate (+0.5%) and health care (+0.5%) sectors closed at the top of the leaderboard while the energy sector declined 0.5%.
Another drop in Treasury yields supported the ongoing positive bias in the stock market today.
Market rates were already heading lower in front of the 5-yr note auction results and pulled back further in response. The 2-yr note yield declined 12 basis points to 4.23% and the 10-yr note yield fell ten basis points to 3.79% after today's $58 billion 5-yr note sale met excellent demand.
The market did not receive any top-tier economic data today, but the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index for December came in at -11, down from -5 that was reported in November.
The dividing line between expansion and contraction for this series is 0.0, so the December reading reflects an acceleration in the rate of contraction for manufacturing activity in the Richmond Fed region.
- Nasdaq Composite: +44.3%
- S&P 500: +24.5%
- Russell 2000: +17.3%
- S&P Midcap 400: +15.6%
- Dow Jones industrial Average: +13.6%
Looking ahead, Thursday's economic calendar features:
- 8:30 ET: Weekly Initial Claims (consensus 207,000; prior 205,000), Continuing Claims (prior 1.865 mln), advance November goods trade deficit (prior -$89.8 bln), November advance Retail Inventories (prior 0.0%), and November advance Wholesale Inventories (prior -0.2%)
- 10:00 ET: November Pending Home Sales (prior -1.5%)
- 10:30 ET: Weekly natural gas inventories (prior -87 bcf)
- 11:00 ET: Weekly crude oil inventories (prior +2.91 mln)