Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] There wasn't a lot of trading action today. Most of the work was done at the open. After that, the broader market fought to retain its gains, and add to them, on a day that was light on market-moving corporate news, light on economic data, and light on volume.

Today featured buy-the-dip activity that favored blue chip stocks and value plays, which, in some cases, were one in the same. The end result produced a day of healthy gains for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which saw only three of its 30 components end in negative territory, and the S&P 500 closing above 4,500 and settling near its highs for the session.

Apple (AAPL 178.85, -3.14, -1.7%) was one of the four Dow laggards, extending its post-earnings report losses as investors grappled with valuation concerns and reports of weakness in the smartphone market. It was largely responsible for the underperformance of the S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.3%); however, strength in Microsoft (MSFT 330.11, +2.33, +0.7%), as well as in NVIDIA (NVDA 454.17, +7.37, +1.7%) and other semiconductor stocks, helped offset Apple's drag.

Similarly, further gains in Amazon.com (AMZN 142.22, +2.65, +1.9%), coupled with strength in online travel agencies and retail stocks, helped the consumer discretionary sector (+1.1%) overcome the weight of weakness in Tesla (TSLA 251.45, -2.41, -0.9%), which was clipped by the surprising news that its highly-regarded CFO, Zachary Kirkhorn, stepped down as of August 4. Tesla, however, rebounded after being down as much as 4.4%.

Six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors finished with a gain of at least 1.0%. Communications services (+1.9%) led the rankings on the back of strength in Alphabet (GOOG 131.94, +3.40, +2.7%) and Meta Platforms (META 316.56, +5.83, +1.9%) followed by financials (+1.4%), which rode the coattails of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B 362.49, +12.50, +3.6%) following its pleasing Q2 operating results.

The only economic release today was the June Consumer Credit Report, which showed a $17.9 billion increase in consumer credit (Briefing.com consensus $13.0 billion) that was driven entirely by an increase in nonrevolving credit. Revolving credit saw its first decline since April 2021.

This data did not affect the Treasury market much at all, which saw an imbalance throughout the day that saw shorter tenors tick higher and longer tenors give back some of their gains from Friday's rally as they digested Fed Governor Bowman's (FOMC voter) belief that additional rates hikes will likely be needed to get inflation back to the Fed's goal, and the assertion from New York Fed President Williams (FOMC voter) that the Fed could be close to its peak rate.

The 2-yr note yield settled the session down one basis point to 4.77% and the 10-yr note yield settled the day up two basis points to 4.08%.

• Nasdaq Composite: +33.7% YTD
• S&P 500: +17.7% YTD
• Russell 2000: +11.2% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: +11.2% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +7.0% YTD

Notable economic data on Tuesday includes the July NFIB Small Business Optimism Index (Briefing.com consensus 92.1; Prior 91.0) at 6:00 a.m. ET, the June Trade Balance Report (Briefing.com consensus -$65.1 billion; Prior -$69.0 billion) at 8:30 a.m. ET, and the June Wholesale Inventories Report (Briefing.com consensus -0.3%; Prior 0.0%) at 10:00 a.m. ET.